


S8 fix-it

by wutthequiznack (birbsandemidogs04)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Eventual Smut, Fluff, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, also fuck Voltron, but I am emotionally damaged, i actually love him, i believe in future klance, i just needed to get this out, its kind of a mess?, voltron: legendary disappointment, why doesn’t Curtis have a tag yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2019-01-29
Packaged: 2019-09-20 07:39:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 25,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17018523
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birbsandemidogs04/pseuds/wutthequiznack
Summary: #fuckvoltron #kickthey all deserved better.





	1. HCs

**Author's Note:**

> So this is a jumble of thoughts and headcanons... it’s all but a fic. I probably will make a fic about this later and add it to this. Klance will always be canon in my heart.

\- s8 was a fucking train wreck. A complete and utter train wreck.

\- here’s some fix-it fic, because...

\- Keith is definitely indicating some unrequited love for Lance

\- Idk if maybe Lance is burying/repressing his feelings for Keith...? Idk how long it will be before Lance is ready for love again

\- fuck I hate this show wtf

\- we could’ve had:

\- Lance realizing his feelings for Allura aren’t reciprocated

\- ok, that’s good so far.

\- he decides to be there for her as a friend

\- makes every indication that it’s gonna be difficult, but he’s gonna try to get over her because she blatantly REJECTED him the whole series and chose another dude over him even when she found out Lance liked her

\- those stupid fucking mice

\- ok so here’s where it changes from canon

\- Allura starts to have some feelings for Lance

\- BUT she reveals them to him and he knows he has to let her down easy because it wouldn’t be fair to both of them (but y’all know he’s so selfless he would only be thinking of her) to be in a relationship in light of new wounds and Lotor and everything. The time just isn’t right.

\- maybe if Allura had reciprocated back in the early seasons, this would’ve made more sense

\- “a disservice” fucking ok

\- SO then she’s like “yeah, you’re right. I should back off. This isn’t right. Thank you, Lonce”

\- then they stay friends and now Lance has time to recover emotionally and contemplate other feelings

\- Keith maybe helps him and gives him advice. You know, like “look, I know what it’s like to like someone who doesn’t like you back. It sucks. But Lance, you’re gonna find someone who wants you and will love you the way you wanna be loved.” (Ironic, huh? He thinks Lance is still hung up on Allura but the truth is...)

\- and then he could have a fUcking arc!!! And he’d get the talk with Shiro

\- you know how it goes; nobody knows Keith better than Shiro, he’d be the best person to give Lance Keith advice

\- so with the whole haggar taking over Keith thing, Lance and Keith fight and feelings come out

\- like an accidental thing, except it isn’t that accidental

\- Lance blurts out something like “I like you!”

\- idk

\- and then they become canon and Lance doesn’t become a fucking farmer and Allura doesn’t die (I mean, maybe she does but she certainly doesn’t turn Lance Altean because there would be no kiss)

\- and if Allura doesn’t die, she deserves to learn she can be independent and rule the alteans, herself

\- Lance deserves to have love

\- fCUK MAN HES A HOPELESS ROMANTIC

\- he always wanted love and to get married and to become a fighter pilot and

\- ALL HIS DREAMS WERE CRUSHED????

\- what kind of fucking fucked up ending is that

\- just pls tell me he can move on from Allura at some point

 

HCs: (Elixir)

\- it takes a while for Lance to be ready for love again

\- but Keith waits, he’s so willing to wait, forever if that’s what it takes (I mean, damn, the guy was happy for him when he was with Allura just because it made Lance happy)

\- Shiro’s wedding: “you know who’s gonna be there? Lance. You should talk to him.”

\- Keith: “wtf am I going to talk to him about? He’s still mourning Allura. I can’t just-“

\- Shiro: “try him.”

\- the klance romance would be sO SOFT

\- because Keith would just not want to hurt Lance at all during the first few years

\- because every time Lance looks in the mirror for awhile after Allura’s death he breaks down crying and Keith walks into the bathroom and just hugs him from behind, holding him and just gently kissing his neck

\- the gUILT

\- no. Lance shouldn’t feel guilt for wanting love again

\- his love for Keith will be so different from his love for Allura

\- one was like devotion to a deity; the other is level and reciprocated in all intensity

\- I wonder if they would make love

\- it probably wouldn’t be fast or hard at all

\- it’d be more like slow and agonizing and passionate, no words because they don’t have anything to say

\- like the first years of their relationship read like a comfortable silence

\- omg it would take awhile for Lance to start acting like himself again

\- and Keith misses old Lance, yknow like the “stupid” earth Lance he was talking about

\- probably is dying to hear his laugh again

\- a lot of their romance is just,, Lance undoing his ponytail

\- them taking each other’s clothes off slowly and lovingly, pausing to kiss each other’s scars

\- well, Keith at first does this, because he wants to worship Lance like the beautiful man he is, like he hasn’t touched Lance in an eternity, like he’s starving and Lance’s skin is his elixir

\- and Keith can tell with a single nod if and when Lance wants to do something

\- so soft

\- and there’s almost no talking, just a dark room with the only light source being the chalky moon filtering through the closed window

\- Keith cups Lance’s face in his hands and strokes his thumbs over the Altean markings, watching as Lance’s eyes slide closed and he sighs

\- there’s still guilt there that Lance can’t let go of

\- and Keith feels guilty too - he wishes he could shoulder it for the both of them

\- when they make love it’s quiet and passionate and heat

\- lots of lingering kisses

\- I imagine Keith would want to kiss every part of Lance for every day he was kept apart from him

\- Lance is probably sub for a little bit, before he starts to take on some of his old traits

\- like he’s mellowed out, but all of a sudden he says things like “oh shit my skin is hideous, I need to run and get a face mask.” or he starts teasing Keith again and smiling a bit more (though he still feels an ache when his brain reminds him that he’s doing this in the wake of Allura’s death)

\- Keith gives him advice one day

\- they had gotten carried away or something, and Lance had started laughing, but suddenly stopped and grimaced

\- Keith is concerned, obvi

\- “what’s wrong?” But he kind of knows somehow anyway

\- “I just- I feel guilty for laughing. I feel like I should still be mourning her, you know? It’s not right to laugh without her.”

\- it pains Keith to hear this, but he understands, just like he understood when Lance had told him he’d scored a date with Allura

\- “Lance,” he puts a hand on Lance’s shoulder and smiles softly, “she wouldn’t want you to feel this way.”

\- it feels lame, like a cop out, so he adds, “look. I love you. And Allura loved you. And I’m positive she would want you to move on and be okay and be able to laugh without feeling like you can’t. That’s not why she left. She left to give us all a chance. She’d just want us to remember her fondly, and not like it’s keeping us back from doing or being what we used to.”

\- he’s kind of surprised he has the capacity to say that, but then Lance has been rubbing off on him

\- Lance leans his face into Keith’s hand and smiles sadly. “You’re right. But I don’t know how to move on.”

\- “how about we start with this?” Keith asks, and kisses Lance’s forehead

\- after that the annual dinners on Allura day become a bit easier

\- his stomach doesn’t plummet when he sees her statue

\- and Keith and Lance hold hands under the table, Keith’s thumb rubbing over Lance’s knuckles

\- and everyone talks about their lives

\- Keith is nervous about proposing

-but so is Lance

\- they both want to start a family and they actually love each other, but

\- Keith doesn’t think Lance is ready and doesn’t want to pressure him; Lance doesn’t think he’s ready

\- so they wait it out

\- only during the year of Shiro’s wedding does Keith start to recognize Lance again

\- he looks at him one day and tilts his head

\- something is different

\- Then Lance says good morning and he smiles experimentally and Keith almost cries

\- so old Lance starts to return.

\- little by little

\- Keith keeps a journal to log the changes because he’s just so in love

\- January: Lance starts to tease him again — called him Samurai when he took out his Marmora knife in the garden

\- February: Lance winks at him

\- March: They start talking and being more vocal and loud in the bedroom

\- April: it rains; Lance goes out and gets drenched and closes his eyes, sighing with his head thrust back. Keith watched from the porch with love in his eyes

\- May: Lance starts wearing face masks again

\- June: Lance doesn’t cry as hard anymore when he looks in the mirror; Keith can’t hear him crying in the shower anymore

\- July: Lance’s birthday — Keith’s present? His best homemade plate of garlic knots (he’d asked Lance’s mom and Hunk to help); Lance starts flirting again

\- August: the hottest month of the year; Lance puts on the sprinkler for his niece and nephew when they come to visit and runs under it with them, laughing too. Keith has to resist grabbing him and spinning him into a sweet Southern kiss as the sun goes down

\- September: school starts up again; Lance begins to chatter about the Garrison and remembers when they were kids (confession that the rivalry was completely made up)

\- October: Keith’s birthday — Lance’s present? A motorbike/Segway so Keith can get around easier; bonus if he makes fun of Keith afterwards because of its resemblance to Varkon, but Keith doesn’t even mind because Lance is laughing again

\- November: Hunk’s wedding; Keith helps Lance into his tux and is surprised when Lance suddenly pulls him close and kisses the life out of him. They nearly go even further right in the dressing room because of how happy Keith is that Lance is acting like himself again

\- December: Christmas! Lance starts decorating with his family and doesn’t lament Allura missing this anymore. He especially loves making gingerbread houses with his niece and nephew and listening to Christmas music. The old paladins, Coran, Romelle, Krolia and co all spend it together. Keith gives Lance a new blue robe and slippers and Lance gives Keith a Monsters and Mana board — “we should play that together sometime.”

\- flower crowns!!

\- idk if they’d even officially get married,,, the missionary and the farmer (fuck farmer looks ugly when you know it means Lance)

\- they’d probably just have a common law marriage

\- and one day Lance’s niece or nephew or maybe his siblings ask what the deal is with Keith

\- “are you guys secretly married?” Veronica teases. “That guy never leaves your side.”

\- Lance blushes. “I don’t know. I never thought about it.”

\- “What happened to the Lance who always wanted to raise a family? Have a spouse? Be loved? Hermanito, that doesn’t have to go away because you lost Allura.”

\- Lance flinches. Part of him is still not over her

\- he realizes she’s right though. It’s like his dreams faded away when Allura died. Like she was the only person he could have them with. He realizes he could totally have that life with Keith.

\- one night they’re getting ready for bed... Keith comes into the bathroom while Lance brushes his teeth and buries his face in Lance’s shoulder.

\- Lance barely flinches — he just spits and rinses, and then turns off the tap to grip Keith’s hands and pull them taut around his waist

\- “Hey, guapo,”

\- that’s another thing Keith loves that’s coming back — Lance speaking Spanish. It had been a surprise at first (an arousing one, at that) to hear him speaking it (bonus if the first time was murmured curses in Spanish in bed), and now that it’s coming back Keith is grateful to Bob above

\- in response Keith says nothing, only nudging closer to Lance and maintaining a lose grip on his waist, still afraid to go all the way so as not to scare him off

\- “What would it be like if... if we got married?” Lance says, hesitating briefly. It surprises him how much of a curse that sounds.

\- Keith nearly pulls back from him, but returns to his waist and shifts his weight as he looks at them in the mirror. Lance looks shocked at his own statements, his eyes wide and then narrowed, uncertain.

\- “I guess it’d be kind of like how it is now.” Keith returns. The topic of marriage is sensitive for him, too. All the adult figures in his life have never been truly able to be with their loves — his mother never married his father and Shiro never got to marry Adam (something that bugged him in the beginning, before he saw how happy Shiro looks around the new guy) ; now Krolia has Kolivan

\- then he realizes that those were their *first* loves

\- Allura was Lance’s first love

\- oh, fuck, what if he’s taking that away from him?

\- he later goes to Shiro for advice

\- it’s common knowledge by now that Keith and Lance are somewhat of a thing — only Pidge and Hunk has been surprised

\- he goes to Shiro’s house not too far away — just over in Japan (Shiro had given him the address long ago in case he ever wanted to visit)

\- he just rushes inside without thinking to knock and finds Shiro’s husband watching a 4D movie on the couch

\- he turns when Keith barges in

\- Shiro comes out of the kitchen (lol I could’ve said “closet” there)

\- “Keith? What a surprise! You didn’t call; I didn’t know you were visiting!” (Cue happy big brother smile)

\- Keith looks kind of gaunt and feels sick. “Can I talk to you about something?”

\- Shiro looks worried. “What is it? Are you alright? Things with you and Lance are okay?”

\- Curtis is just,, “do you guys want me to leave? I can go to another room if u wanna talk.” (He’s always been careful about making sure Keith approves of him)

\- Keith nods, and so Curtis leaves and he and Shiro sit down at the kitchen table

\- “So what is it? You’re okay?”

\- “Yeah, I’m fine.” He can’t bring himself to say the words because he doesn’t know what to say exactly

\- Shiro looks at him expectantly

\- with a sigh, Keith starts, “so I was thinking the other day about marriage. Like, getting married. To Lance. But we’re kind of married already, and I know I don’t want a big celebration or whatever, but the old Lance would have — I don’t know what this new Lance wants.”

\- Shiro nods like he understands, careful to keep a poker face.

\- ”but I was thinking too about how everyone in my life has never gotten to be with their true loves. Krolia never married my dad, and now she has Kolivan. You never got to marry Adam, and now there’s Curtis. Don’t get me wrong — I’m happy for you, but I feel like...”

\- “you feel like you’re the second love in Lance’s life.”

\- “right. I feel like I’m taking his first love away from him. I don’t know. It’s stupid.”

\- Shiro puts his real hand on his shoulder. “It’s not stupid. It shows how much you love him, that you’re thinking about him like that, considering whether he’d want marriage or not. Listen, I can’t speak for him, but the Lance I knew always wanted to get married. Something that goes along with that is the opportunity to let yourself fall in love again with someone you feel you can marry. You’ll always keep that first love in your heart, but you can move on now. Just because Lance loves Allura still doesn’t mean he can’t love you now.”

\- Keith smiles. He always feels comforted by his talks with Shiro

\- they hug or whatever -- increase the cheese!

\- “thanks, Shiro.”

\- then he leaves with the intention of bursting through the door of his house and leaving kisses all over Lance and being even more patient waiting for Lance to be ready to marry him

\- but when he gets home Lance is sitting at the kitchen table with some flowers in his hands. He’s braiding them into a crown for someone

\- so Keith does exactly what he’d planned to do

\- first he stands near the door and waits for Lance to notice him

\- Lance stands up from the table, finishing the crown, and smiles slightly at Keith

\- “Hey, Keith.”

\- Keith like melts for Lance’s smile. He craves it like air

\- “Hey.”

\- Lance: “come here.”

\- Keith comes hesitatingly around the table and brushes his wayward strands of hair aside from where they’d fallen out of his ponytail. Lance reaches up from his seat and pushes them effortlessly back into the river of black

\- Keith catches his hand and pauses to bend down and kiss Lance’s fingers, his eyes fluttering closed

\- “Keith? What-what’re you doin’—“

\- Keith looks up and meets his eyes but continues, pressing a kiss to each knuckle and then moving down to his hand and then the pad of his palm

\- he doesn’t respond and Lance is just,, mouth agape,, chuckles after awhile, when Keith is almost at his rolled-up sleeve

\- “I think I wanna marry you.”

\- Keith stops and stares. He entirely wasn’t expecting this at all

\- in the silence Lance brings the flower crown up and puts it on Keith’s head, standing as he does it

\- Keith really wants to kiss him right then and there, but holds back

\- “you do?” is the only thing he can stammer out

\- Lance nods, and he looks surer now than he’s ever looked before. A fond smile cracks over his face. “I’ve been thinking, and I think I’m ready. I always wanted to have a family, and I thought I could only have that with Allura, but—“

\- Keith thumbs over his Altean markings then, hooking his hands behind Lance’s head, and brings him into a passionate kiss

\- Lance falls into it, his hands tightly gripping Keith’s forearms

\- after they separate, Keith can’t stop himself kissing down Lance’s neck, and Lance only tilts his head back for easier access

\- that’s more than enough to tell him “yes”

\- so then they get married in a small ceremony

\- Hunk, Pidge, Shiro, Curtis, Romelle, Coran, Shay, Krolia, Kolivan, Acxa and Lance’s family all show

\- Sam officiates

\- Hunk caters

\- it’s beautiful — they all celebrate for the marriage and in memory of Allura

\- Keith stares lovingly at Lance the whole time and nearly rips his face off when it’s time for them to kiss

\- afterwards they all eat the cake Romelle made and

\- (I wanna believe) all the couples dance: Shiro and Curtis are by far the best slow-dancers, foreheads touching and breathing at the same time

\- Veronica is definitely going to teach Acxa a Cuban dance

\- Hunk and Shay are giggling and smiling the whole time

\- Keith and Lance steal the spotlight after awhile

\- instead of wearing their rings on their hands, they wear them around their necks on gold chains

\- married life is pretty much the same as before — except now it’s official

-having been an orphan, Keith would definitely want to adopt

\- but he worries about how he’ll be as a parent

\- Lance reassures him late at night amongst kisses that he’ll be a great father


	2. Bouquet.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The bouquet is a symbol of impending marriage. For Keith, this is all too real.

Shiro’s wedding seems to ring in a new tone to the post apocalyptic atmosphere of Earth. It emphasizes togetherness, rebuilding bases, new beginnings. This isn’t lost on any of the former paladins. Shiro’s happiness is infectious — all the others catch it. It represents hope for moving on from the war.

 

Keith catches his eyes wandering to Lance all toooften during the whole thing. For him, moving on has never been more repulsive. Pining over Lance has become familiar — seeing his face and feeling his heart leap, automatically and without warning, warms Keith. He kind of likes pining. It makes him feel motivated to live his life for someone else.

 

But it’s been going on too long — so many years. Even though he knows he would wait forever, he can’t help wondering if or when Lance will be ready for love again.

 

He gets his answer later, in a way.

 

He’s never quite understood the tradition of the bouquet being tossed and the connotation it bears, but he doesn’t have time to question now. Anyway, he has a vague idea that whoever catches the bouquet gets married next, or something of the like.

 

Shiro and Curtis are standing together and then the bouquet flies and Keith sees it as it falls unceremoniously into Lance’s hands. Keith can only stare while Lance’s face goes red, his Altean markings glowing blue in contrast. Everyone else is cheering — Hunk is hooting. If anyone, Keith would have thought he would have been the one to claim the bouquet. It’s no secret what he and Shay have between them. They’ve been together a decaphoeb already officially, and way longer before that.

 

Keith can’t imagine who would be the person Lance chooses. He’s already decided in a mourning sort of way that it will never be him.

 

But when he comes to, realizes he’s been staring at Lance the whole time he’s been thinking, he sees that Lance is staring back at him. The bouquet, he’s holding like a baby in his arms, like he’s scared to drop it, as if this thing represents any hope he has of moving on with someone else one day. His hair is tousled and wild — like Keith’s never seen it before. He’d taken quick note of it before the ceremony, but now that he’s looking, an unexpected sadness nestles into his heart along with an unwelcome thought: he’s let himself go.

 

Gone is the Lance who used to wear face masks and use shampoo and conditioner religiously every day on the castleship. The Lance who prided in his appearance, but didn’t brag; was somehow insecure about himself at the same time.

 

It strikes Keith just how badly he wants to kiss him right now.

 

And do more than that. He wants to kiss him, to take him in his arms and reassure him he’s enough, that he’s everything. Keith wants to whisper that he loves Lance, that he has always and will forever, and he wants to hear Lance’s laugh again so desperately he fears he could burst at the seams.

 

But he can’t act on this, because he loves Lance more than he loves himself.


	3. Kiss.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Lance’s first kiss in this reality.

The first time Keith visits Lance’s farm, he sees Lance leaning against a rake and altogether forgets the juniberries are there. He stares, completely and utterly focused on Lance and only Lance, and all the flowers and grass blur into a solid pink and green mass all around them.

 

He pockets his hands in his jacket and smiles up at him, approaching. Lance is staring out across the field and doesn’t see him.

 

“Hey, Lance,” Keith says, voice cracking slightly. He hasn’t talked much these past few phoebs. Usually his missions with the Blade just require him to hand out sustenance and not say much.

 

He watches Lance turn, and his hair is shaggier than Keith remembers. Keith can be oblivious at the best of times, but even he doesn’t miss the way Lance’s beautiful eyes light up as a grin spreads across his face. “Samurai,” he returns, nodding, “it’s been a while.”

 

It’s been more than a while, or it feels that way to Keith. It feels like it’s been an eternity without him.

 

“So what brings you to my farm?” Lance asks. Keith watches the rake dig into the earth. “Want some juniberries?”

 

Shaking his head, Keith grins. “No. I... wanted to see you.”

 

And that’s the truth.

 

Lance’s Altean markings light up to match the hot flush of his skin from the beating sun. “You wanna see the farm then?” he asks hesitantly, and Keith nods.

 

“Sure.” he responds. Even though he’d be content to just sit anywhere with Lance as long as he’s with him.

 

So Lance smiles and shows him around the farm. It’s beautiful, really — vibrant pink and green as far as the eye can see; cows grazing peacefully in the meadows; lambs weakly taking their first steps, their mothers guiding them with their mouthes. Keith finds he smiles the most at Lance’s enthusiasm, which isn’t all there yet but is returning in the years after Allura’s death. Keith’s mouth, unused to smiling, keeps flitting up at the corners uncontrollably as he regards the man he’s loved for what feels like forever.

 

He wishes the tour could go on forever, but there’s only so much farm to go through, and pretty soon they’re back where they started.

 

“And that’s the whole thing,” Lance is saying. Sweat glistens on his open chest and his face is flushed beautifully. It’s a very automatic decision that Keith catches hold of his wrist and links their fingers together. Very suddenly. Like his body has craved Lance so long, it thinks they’re together.

 

They both look down at their hands slowly, as if just registering the contact. Keith tries to pull his away — this isn’t the right time at all — but Lance makes no move to claim his own hand.

 

“Sorry, I — that was, I didn’t mean to do that.” Keith stutters, and he knows his face is bright red.

 

“Why did you then?” Lance asks. There’s no malice or disgust or anything in his voice — more like thinness and fatigue.

 

And when Keith can’t offer a response, can only stare at him, blinking wildly, Lance reaches and grabs Keith’s hand, his fingers rubbing over the back. No words are exchanged, and there don’t need to be any. After awhile Keith turns his hand and links their fingers together, and it spreads such warmth through him that it’s like there’s a fire lit there. When they smile at each other, Keith’s taken back to the bonding moment.

 

And then Lance’s niece runs over to Lance from the fields and attaches herself to his hip. Lance immediately lets go of Keith to hoist her into his arms, sparing one last glance at Keith before he walks off back toward the farm.

 

Keith can only watch and linger for a bit before taking his cue to leave.

 

—

 

Keith’s visits to the farm are random after that — he finds himself heading to the farm whenever he’s free, because Lance is always there. Romantically there are no more advances on Keith’s part — after thinking about it, he realizes he must restrain himself from pushing Lance if he’s not ready to go forward with someone else yet. But the possibility is there. It’s not like it’s not. That excites Keith more than he can say.

 

Only a few phoebs after they’d held hands, Keith visits for the third time. Lance’s joking nature is slowly coming back, and Keith finds himself smiling more and more, so much so that Ezor had remarked on one mission shortly after Keith had left Lance’s farm, that he has “smile marks”. Acxa had shot him an understanding glance, as she, too, had been utterly affected by one of the McClains. Keith hadn’t known what to say at that, but he’d understood exactly what she’d meant. He thinks they all know now.

 

On this particular occasion Lance leads Keith to the hay bales he has far back in the field. It’s a ways from the barn and quite private, but Keith tries not to dwell on this as he follows after Lance.

 

“Alright, so the cows need to be fed from this hay,” Lance says as he strides over to the bales. “I have them tied up, all we need to do is bring them over.”

 

Keith nods. He remembers vaguely his father telling him stories of his old farm growing up, on which he’d had even more animals than Lance does here, so he’s somewhat knowledgeable as to life on the farm.

 

“Okay,” he says, moving to pick up a bale as Lance watches, hands on his hips. Methodically blocking Lance from his vision with the hay so as not to let himself stare, Keith quickly retraces his steps to the cows’ pasture.

 

It doesn’t take long for them both to supply all the cows with their needed hay, as there aren’t too many of them to keep track of. Keith wipes his forehead off with the back of his hand and watches as the cows begin to feed. He doesn’t notice Lance behind him until he feels a hand caress his shoulder.

 

“Thanks, man.” Lance says, his voice soft.

 

“No- no problem,” Keith replies, cursing the redness on his face.

 

It’s odd, feeling this soft contact, but not unwelcome. In the past he would have expected a harsh pat or something else from Lance. This kind of touch is new. It surprises Keith how much he craves it.

 

He turns quite subconsciously to regard Lance, just to look in his eyes and see the light glistening in them. They stare at each other for what feels like both an eternity and no time at all, only interrupted when Lance steals forward, so close that Keith can feel his breath, and asks, “Do you wanna come to the garden with me?”

 

Keith can’t say no. He can’t. He’s got a weak spot for Lance. He can barely nod as Lance pulls away and motions for him to follow as he takes him not so far away, only to the outskirts of the farm, where there’s a small patch of juniberries and high grass shading them from view as they sit down. Keith watches Lance turn and grasp one of the flowers, pulling it smoothly out of the ground and leaning forward to push Keith’s hair out of his face so he can tuck it behind his ear. Keith’s mouth falls open and with it, his heart. He knows he shouldn’t feel the need to kiss Lance right now, because maybe he still isn’t ready, but he wants to badly.

 

So he grasps Lance’s muscled forearm and moves slowly, trailing his gaze all the way up to Lance’s face, seeing his eyes half-lidded and pupils blown and mouth slightly open. He stops, hesitates.

 

“Is this - do you want me to kiss you?” he asks, and when Lance nods yes, Keith’s heart sets itself ablaze and leaps when he reaches to grab Lance’s face, stroking the skin briefly before he finally grants himself relief. Lance’s lips melt for him — they’re soft and warm and his mouth tastes like cinnamon spice. The thought that it’s been ten-something years waiting for this only makes him grip Lance harder, his hands moving to his back. He feels Lance shift so he can hold his face and his hands are calloused, but Keith doesn’t mind it.

 

They come apart too soon for Keith’s liking, and their eyes open only momentarily before Lance pulls him back in, hands gripping Keith’s leather jacket, bringing him closer until he’s sitting in Keith’s lap. Keith gasps and almost aggressively pulls Lance flush against him, almost letting himself go. Lance’s hands go to Keith’s hair and stay buried there when they part again for the second time. “I never want you to cut this mullet,” Lance groans, and Keith chuckles.

 

“I thought you hated it?”

 

“It’s grown on me,” Lance says. Keith pauses a few moments, uncertain.

 

“Lance, are you — ready for this? Are you sure you’re ready? I can wait. Longer, I mean. I don’t mind.”

 

Lance nods, and it occurs to Keith that his Altean marks are glowing.

 

“I’m ready.” he replies. And that’s that.


	4. Settle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Halp I have no self control

Keith’s a nomad. He doesn’t keep to just one spot, that’s not in his nature, and he never wanted that before. He was always restless, seeking something else, longing to be alone and be able to move around freely. It’s amazing how quickly that changes once he sinks into a relationship with Lance.

 

Of course, there’s still diplomatic things to be done. His work in the universe is never truly over. There are so many planets still in need of relief and supplies, and Keith doesn’t plan to forget that.

 

But when he’s on Earth, there’s Lance.

 

Their relationship is slow, like something just blooming, something that has been planted already and refused to grow for awhile, but which is now hesitantly making its way out of the dirt. Keith is happy to go slow. Really, he’s happy to be patient and do whatever Lance is ready to do whenever he’s ready to do it. He’s changed a lot from that impatient eighteen year-old with abandonment issues and a hot head. He finds himself understanding automatically that Lance might have difficulty with the speed of the relationship, and he doesn’t mind this at all. He’s content to just sit near Lance, help him on the farm whenever he’s on Earth. The first couple of weeks are the slowest, with Keith remaining on the farm with Lance and his family and helping them with whatever they need done. He relishes being able to brush his hands against Lance’s own sometimes, or sending him a soft smile when he sees a look of concentration on his face. They go to the field where they’d first kissed a lot, when they’re both done their work for the day, and Keith stares at Lance until he catches his gaze and turns, often smirking as he quips, “Something on my face?”

 

And Keith will shake his head and reach out, just caressing his face.

 

Keith doesn’t need any more than this through the beginning of the relationship.

 

And he starts to settle into the rhythm that is being with Lance. He’s loved Lance more than Lance will ever know, but loving Lance and being with him at the same time is an entirely new experience. It’s really a “testing the waters” phase of their relationship for the beginning, although it doesn’t take long for Lance’s family to realize they’re an item. Keith thinks they might have known before he and Lance did, themselves. It’s not met by any fanfare or shock — it’s more like falling into something familiar. It’s not huge.

 

And when Keith goes back into space to help with the Blade relief organization, he’s happy to be able to say goodbye to Lance, lingering on his face and kissing him gently on the forehead or cheek or even lips sometimes.

 

So for the first beginnings, there is just dust settling.


	5. Mirror.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My Christmas gift to you and myself — this series of fics. It’s surprising me how therapeutic this is to me.

Six months into their relationship, Keith arrives back on Earth from the Blade so tired he sways when he hits the ground. Lance is there tending his field as usual, and frowns when Keith only gives a weak wave rather than the grin that naturally slips across his face when he returns. Dropping his rake among the juniberries, Lance opens the gate and manages to capture Keith in his arms before Keith can cross the threshold by himself.

 

“Tired, Samurai?” he asks, secretly concerned. In response, Keith lets his head slump onto Lance’s shoulder, murmuring assent. Lance brushes his hair back and wraps an arm around his back as he half-carries him into the farmhouse. The farm has been mostly vacated by his family — his mother is the one who comes back the most often, helping him tend to the land and plant more juniberries. So the house is his, however as big as it is, bedding is somewhat of a problem. The only good bed is really his. His cheeks burn but he ignores the connotation of what he’s about to do, and helps Keith gently into the room and onto the bed, watching as he automatically curls into his side.

 

He decides with finality that the best thing to do at present would be to resume his daily duties until night, and by then hopefully Keith will be awake enough to sleep somewhere else. Keith doesn’t stay the night often, if ever, when he’s over. He’ll usually stay during the day and go back home to his shack at night. They’re taking that part of this slow. There’s no reason to rush, and Lance doesn’t feel he’s ready to, even though he wants this to be serious. He gazes at Keith’s heaving form one last time before putting everything else out of his mind and heading back out to the field.

 

—

 

By the time night rolls around, Lance is sweating and just about ready for a long night’s rest. Locking and double-locking the gate for certainty, he goes back into the house and to his bathroom for a much-needed shower. It takes about fifteen minutes — half the time it used to take him — and then he covers his face in a rejuvenating face mask while he towels himself down. He wraps a bathrobe around himself finally and tousles out his hair, glad for the mirror over the sink. At least until he removes his face mask and catches a glimpse of his markings.

 

—

 

Keith wakes to the sound of faint cries echoing from another room. Eyes widening, it takes him only a few seconds to recognize the scent of Lance’s farmhouse and realize he’s on a bed. But the cries grow more insistent and his mind reels, causing his body to leap off the plush mattress to investigate.

 

“Lance?” he calls out groggily, voice cracking. He crying stops altogether then, and he curses.

 

“Lance?” he tries again, his boots quickening on the wood floors.

 

And then he opens the door to the washroom and finds the man he loves heaving his tears into the sink, clutching the edges of it and bending over like he might throw up. Immediately, without thinking, Keith claims him in his arms, pulling Lance’s back flush against his stomach, holding him tight. He can feel the tears rolling off Lance’s face and falling off, hitting the sink with such force that they break into droplets and splash back against Keith’s hands, and he doesn’t know why Lance is crying but he has an idea. The pained noises quiet after a few minutes, and as Keith loosens his grip on Lance he turns his head and presses his mouth to the bit of neck he can see above the robe Lance is wearing.

 

“Are you alright?” he asks, and it’s probably a stupid question, but he has to know.

 

Lance nods and his chin is buried against his chest. “I’ll be okay.” he returns.

 

In response, Keith turns him abruptly to see his face and so Lance doesn’t have the chance to catch a glimpse of himself again. Lance’s face is marked by tears, which trail over the Altean markings and down to his neck and chest. Keith’s eyelids lower — he lets his hands come up and grasp Lance’s face so his thumbs can stroke the markings, brushing the tears away. This means a variety of things, but mostly it’s a physical _I love you_ and _I’m sorry_ and _I’m here._

Lance, understanding this, closes his eyes and leans forward so his head falls against Keith’s chest. All of a sudden, he’s the exhausted one, and Keith doesn’t mind that carrying him for the first time isn’t on their wedding night but instead tonight, when Lance needs him. And he doesn’t leave after he lays Lance down in bed because Lance he knows this, only lies down next to him atop all the covers, falling asleep only when he can’t keep his eyes open any longer. 


	6. Bed.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it’s been a deca phoeb since Keith and Lance’s first kiss. What better way to honour this than by making out?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas to you all! Be warned, there is some nsfw content in this chapter. Made me change the rating

 

In the year since Keith and Lance have gotten together, they’ve slowly been coming together as a unit, learning each other like never before. There’s only so much you can know about someone when you’re only friends, but loving gives two the excuse to become one wholly and without thought.

 

Keith knows Lance’s triggers. He knows that looking in the mirror too long can drain his whole body of emotion, that he can get depressed sometimes and need to be held — especially at night, waking from repetitive night terrors with tear-stained cheeks chanting Allura’s name.

 

Lance knows the pattern of Keith’s restlessness — how sometimes he’ll need to go and take a ride on a desert skiff but that he’ll always come back after the pent-up energy is spent, often with food from a nearby shop. He knows Keith loves fiercely and impulsively as per his nature, but is taking his time with Lance. He knows the feeling of Keith’s arms around him and lips against his own, can tell straightaway that it’s him even when he hugs from behind.

 

Tonight, Lance shocks himself with his desire to be with Keith, raw and real and without barriers. His body craves Keith’s — it craves him even more now with his hair longer and his chest broader and arms bulging, smile lines creasing his face and that deep, sexy grin—

 

So. Lance’s mind almost feels bad for his  body’s lack of regard for his emotional well-being — his mind chides him sometimes for being with someone else in light of what had happened to Allura, determined that he should never be happy again — but he can’t help it, really. And it’s the middle of the day, and his parents are working on the juniberries, but watching Keith rake with his arms straining and face sweating is almost too much for Lance to take.

 

In the end he steps in front of Keith, blocking the man’s view of anything but him, until Keith looks up. There’s worry in his eyes at first.

 

“You okay?”

 

“That depends,” Lance answers. “Physically, or mentally?”

 

Keith rolls his eyes. “Mentally, you ass.” he says, but Lance knows very well the name’s just a tease. Still, even the word turns him on and brings with it... images... of what they could be doing right now.

 

“Not too badly.” Lance answers. He pauses, sidling up closer to Keith and gripping either side of his jacket. “But I could be a lot better physically if you would —“

 

Keith takes the cue right away and kisses him hard and fast, right there in the middle of the field. Breathing hard, Lance breaks away and smiles. His hand finds Keith’s and Keith links their fingers together without a second thought as Lance leads him into the farmhouse. Keith’s heart beats so hard he’s sure Lance can hear it, but he says nothing, afraid to deter him. It amazes him how they can say almost nothing to each other at this point and still know what the other wants.

 

The bedroom isn’t far, and thank Quiznak for that, because Lance couldn’t handle many more steps. He uses his linked hand to push Keith so that he steps back against the bed, sitting at the cue. When Lance starts to climb onto his lap, Keith’s hands pause, not quite running over his broad back yet.

 

“You want this?” he asks, voice getting huskier when Lance starts to kiss his neck.

 

“Yeah,” Lance murmurs, half drunk on Keith’s musk.

 

Keith tries not to tilt into Lance’s touch. “You sure?” he goes on.

 

“Keith. Yes,” Lance hisses, but Keith hooks a hand under his lover’s jaw.

 

“Lance, look at me.”

 

Lance obeys with a pout, which quickly fades when he sees the soft look on Keith’s face, like he’s fallen in love all over again. Keith’s other hand comes up to cup Lance’s right cheek, and blue glows into the darkness. “You’re okay with this?”

 

The lightest of tears falls down that right cheek, and he nods. “Yes. I want you.”

 

That probably undoes Keith, untethers him, unravels him like string from a spool. He pulls Lance in quick for a kiss and with renewed energy, brings his hands to Lance’s ass, squeezing gently as Lance bites his way down Keith’s neck.

 

“This okay?” he asks intermittently, as his hands move restlessly over the different parts of his body. And Lance says _yes_ , over and over again, breathlessly, moaning, because he is _so_ okay with it and he actually might love Keith just for asking so many times despite the fact that he’d probably love to just be inside him right now.

 

There’s nothing more that Lance wants than to undress Keith lovingly and slowly so he can pause to admire everything and kiss every part of him, and vice versa, but that can wait for some other time, when they aren’t both so damn horny.

 

So clothes are pulled off quickly and discarded, left in a collective heap on the floor that is quite a romantic mix of red and blue, and Lance is breathing into Keith’s skin as Keith waits, impossibly still, but then Lance can’t stop himself from falling into him and gasping loudly at the feeling — he’s never felt this before. Keith’s breath is gone too but he manages to cup Lance’s face in his hands and look in his eyes, silently asking him if _this_ is alright, and Lance only closes his eyes in response as a sudden burst of pleasure overtakes him. His eyebrows fall and satisfaction sets in. His hips start to move of their own accord, setting Keith off moaning.

 

Keith’s hands stay on Lance’s cheeks as they make love, pushing each other further and further along the edge like it’s a race again. _Lance_ _and_ _Keith_ , _neck_ _and_ _neck_. Keeping time to each other’s thrusts, Lance’s hands running over Keith almost desperately, growing more and more frantic as he approaches a world-shattering release. And pretty soon he’s cursing in ten different languages and crying out — he can’t control it, just how he’s sure Keith can’t control the soft murmurings of something in his language right before his own release.

 

They open their eyes a couple of minutes afterwards, and the whole thing was so unbelievably fast that it was almost like they’d missed it. Keith smiles softly at Lance and they laugh for a little bit at nothing in particular before falling into another kiss.

 

—

 

The next time they do it is a couple of weeks later, at night. By this time Keith is familiar with Lance’s bed. He often beats Lance inside the warm sheets as it doesn’t take long for him to do his nighttime routine, which usually only consists of a brisk shower and teeth cleaning before climbing into their shared bed.

 

Lance, however, he knows takes longer. It comforts Keith to know that Lance is slowly turning back into his old self, little by little, even down to his bedtime routine. There’s nothing more amazing than the sight of Lance in a face mask and robe.

 

Yet there’s still always a nagging worry in the back of Keith’s mind what with the time it takes for Lance to get ready, that he’s crying in there again. That he’s staring at the markings, or he’s thinking of Allura, or is curled in on himself on the floor with his arms around his knees, silently crying his pain, and Keith can’t hear him.

 

Keith stretches out in the bed tonight, his smile fading from his face as he considers that possibility. Lance has been in the bathroom for half an hour — and Keith hasn’t heard the tap running or anything. He sits up in bed and glances around the darkness of the room. It’s depressingly quiet.

 

“Lance?” he calls, loud enough so Lance can hear him even all the way in the bathroom.

 

In response he hears the bathroom door open and shut, and waits in silence and darkness, only hearing Lance tread into the room. Feeling the bed jostle to the side of him, he reaches out an arm and catches Lance’s hip, bony and soft under his hand. “Lance, you okay?”

 

He can just vaguely make out the silhouette of his lover in the dark, and the bed moves as Lance moves. He feels fingers move through his hair and tangle in his ponytail, bringing out the elastic — he assumes Lance slides it onto his wrist. Then he stares into nothing as his waist is straddled. His hands reach up to hold Lance’s face. It’s wet.

 

“You’re -“ Keith’s cut off as Lance’s lips are mashed against his and their bodies are pressed unimaginably close together. When they break apart they’re both panting.

 

“Just-“ Lance’s voice is trembling, “just, please.”

 

Keith knows exactly what he wants right away - he doesn’t know how. He leans forward until his forehead finds Lance’s, and thumbs softly over the markings on his cheeks. They glow blue like a neon sign, the only way Keith can see Lance. He says nothing else, doesn’t attempt to. Words are a formality — besides, he and Lance don’t need them at the best of times.

 

He knows the pain of losing Allura is still fresh in Lance’s heart, and he won’t try to change that. Right now he will grant Lance what he wants to feel to try and heal. So he scootches forward and claims his lips, exhaling audibly as the kiss quickly deepens and Lance trails his hands down to the hem of Keith’s shirt. Pausing, Keith lets Lance remove his jacket and then his shirt, feeling a satisfying chill as his chest is exposed to the air of the bedroom. He steals forward and finds his fingers brush against a fuzziness that must be Lance’s blue robe. Desperately he pulls this open and runs his hands over Lance’s bare chest and torso, scooping him up into his arms by the back and feeling Lance melt into him, bracing himself on Keith’s forearms.

 

It’s quiet, their love making. The space is mostly filled by panting and sounds of kisses being broken and murmurings. No crying out or anything of the like. Keith only hums slightly in pleasure when he reaches his release, Lance following shortly after with a gasp, then slumping against him. They stay frozen like this for a few minutes and then Keith feels tears hit his chest. He makes quick work of shifting so he’s lying on his side, and Lance automatically moves beside him so Keith can put his arms around him, hold him flush and let him cry all his tears.

 

He knows why, and he might wish he could take all the pain away, but that’s impossible, and Keith had known that even back in the Quantum Abyss when he’d first seen Allura kiss Lance and die, AKA when Keith’s heart had officially broken.


	7. Dance.

When Lance was a teenager, he had a very different idea of what dancing was than now. Back then, having been raised in a vibrant, loud family, he’d thought dancing was energy, rapid movement, salsa and flamenco and maybe even hip hop. Slow dances had never really seemed like dances to him.

 

Weariness overtakes him now. He finds he doesn’t have as much energy as he used to, and so his idea of dancing has changed.

 

Keith is gone, back up in space on a different planet giving humanitarian relief with Acxa, Ezor and Zethrid, and like usual, Lance tends the farm. On days where he’s alone, he finds himself just sitting among the juniberries, picking some up and closing his eyes as he smells their delicate aroma and thinks of Allura when the breeze picks up all around him, tousling the petals.

 

The time escapes him and dusk spreads across the sky as he lies amongst the grass and flowers, one lingering in his hand. Kaltenecker has settled beside him and everything is calm and quiet.

Tired, he starts to hum a mindless tune and catches himself before he thinks of everything he and Allura never got to do together. But then waltzing comes to mind — dancing together intimately, swaying, like there’s nobody else in the world except them two. Lance feels a sudden ache for that, a sad sort of yearning, almost a craving. And then like someone out there heard him, he hears the familiar buzz of Keith’s skiff over the sandy ground outside the gate.

 

He opens his eyes, sitting up, catches a glimpse of Keith and his ever-growing mullet as he walks toward the gate.

 

“Mullet,” Lance greets with a nod.

 

Keith grins. “Lance.”

 

His pace quickens, hair listing slightly, until he reaches Lance and kneels to bring him into a hard, lingering kiss, like they’ve been apart for years.

 

“Wow, you missed me, huh?” Lance asks after they part, dazed.

 

Keith gazes at him lazily. “Every second I was gone.”

 

He sits back on his heels, laughing when Lance hits him and calls him a “cheese” in retaliation.

 

“It’s true. That’s why I came back.”

 

Lance’s face warms and he reaches, pulling Keith by his jacket into another kiss. “You know,” he murmurs afterwards, their foreheads pressed together, “I was thinking about dancing today.”

 

Keith’s hands grip Lance’s wrists. “Dancing?”

 

“Yeah, you know.”

Lance pulls away to look him in the eyes. “Waltz or whatever. Stuff like that.”

 

Keith doesn’t ask how he came to that, he knows not to. “Do you... want to dance?” he asks instead, almost hesitantly. He can picture dancing with Lance, holding him impossibly close and Lance holding him, moving gently to music as if they’re afraid one or both of them will break.

 

Lance looks like he’s thinking it over, and it occurs to Keith that he might still be hesitant in light of Allura’s death. “I mean. Sorry. We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

 

“I want to.” Lance says then, nodding. Keith watches him kneel and then stand from the grass, offering a hand down to help him up too. Keith takes it and gazes at him there, somehow glowing against the dark backdrop of the sky. Their fingers graze against each other as Keith follows him inside the farmhouse, down hallways to the bedroom he always comes back to. Looking round, Keith smiles. That familiar scent caresses his nose — pumpkin and face masks and milk all mixed together, something he’s grown to love so much that if there was a candle made out of it, he would light it every day. He’s drawn out of his stupor by the sound of upbeat Cuban music cutting into the silence between them.

 

Lance is standing near the bedside table and grinning down at what looks like a record player atop it. One of those old things Keith remembers his father saying his grandfather had kept as a relic from *his* father’s time.

 

“Where did you get one of those?”

 

Lance shrugs, not looking up. “Rachel’s into really old stuff. I think she got it at a pawn shop.”

 

“Yeah, but that’s like hundreds of years old.” Keith points out.

 

“Well, it still works,” Lance returns. “I only have Cuban records, though, which wouldn’t be a bad thing if I had more energy.”

 

Keith doesn’t say it, but hearing Lance say this causes him to feel a pang in his heart. They’re only in their twenties and yet Lance has been through more than most people go through in a lifetime. They’ve all been through the war, but there’s no doubt Lance was the most affected.

 

On a whim, Keith strides across the room and takes Lance in his arms from behind, wrapping his arms around his lover’s middle, leaning in to kiss his neck.

 

“What are you doing?” Lance asks, but laughter bubbles out of the question. Everytime he laughs, Keith falls more in love.

 

Rather than respond with words, Keith stands up straight and spins Lance by the waist to face him. Smoothly he turns the music off and comes back to find Lance has a smirk on his face, having caught up to him. They arrange themselves into the waltz position as if fitting themselves into a puzzle. It feels as natural as anything they’ve done together.

 

“We’re gonna waltz,” Keith tells Lance finally, reaching his hand down further on his waist and feeling Lance’s hand grip tighter on his shoulder.

 

“We don’t have music, genius,” Lance chastises in a murmur that tells Keith he’s still craving it nonetheless.

 

“We don’t need it.”

 

In the silence Keith can hear the crickets chirping outside, can appreciate the cool white light from the moon slipping in the window over the bed, illuminating them in their embrace, neither properly dressed to be dancing.

 

He looks — albeit _up_ — into Lance’s eyes and smiles softly before starting to sway him into the waltz. It isn’t perfect at all, really — their tempo is horribly off, they keep bumping feet, they can’t look into each other’s eyes the first few minutes for fear of stepping on each other — but they improve, and soon, the awkwardness is gone, and only them two remain.

 

“You know, Keith,” Lance says, pulling Keith closer to him, “this is actually nice.”

 

Keith rests his chin against Lance’s shoulder, presses a quick kiss to the bit of exposed skin there.

 

“It would be better if we had music.” complains Lance. “but it’s nice.”

 

Keith doesn’t control the humming after that. All he knows is that it’s completely subconscious, and sort of weird. It’s one of those old country songs his pop used to put on and sing to, one of the only things he remembers from his pop. Keith’s voice has never particularly sucked, but the range in this song is challenging and it’s always been hard to nail in the past. The fact that he’s hitting all the notes tonight tells him how much he loves Lance.

 

Surprisingly, Lance doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t retort, doesn’t remark, says nothing. So they kind of sway like this together on the floor of the bedroom, and they don’t stop even after Keith’s stopped humming.

 

Once they still, their foreheads press together for an instant and then they fall apart.


	8. Tux and Rain.

One of the times Keith comes back from space is in April. In fact, it’s just in time for Hunk’s wedding to Shay, which he invites all the paladins and their families to.

 

Hunk calls it their “Earth wedding”, because they’re from two different planets, it’s only fair that they have their wedding twice — on Earth and on the Balmera. Personally, Keith thinks it would be easier to just have elements of both cultures in the same wedding, but he wouldn’t dare say this to Hunk. That’s another thing about him now — he’s a bit more aware of what not to say to people. He thinks Lance might’ve helped him with this just a little.

 

Anyway, the wedding will feature Hunk’s galaxy-famous catering so Keith’s not complaining. Upon receiving the invite as he chats idly with the people of the latest planet the Blade visits, he remembers with fondness the early days of his friendship with Hunk, and how the food goo on the ship had been crap compared to what he could do. That was even back before Hunk had all the alien ingredients at his disposal — even his Earth dishes kicked ass. Hell, even his pizza rolls kicked ass.

 

Keith gets back from the mission a couple of days before the wedding and touches down outside Lance’s farm like usual, crouching and greeting his lover with a tender kiss in the fields as he picks juniberries for a flower crown. “That for Nadia?” he asks, by now familiar with almost every member of the McClain family. Well, as familiar as he can be without having formally met them.

 

Lance tilts the flowers in his hand. “Could be. I was going to make it for myself.”

 

“Yeah, she’s eleven, after all. She can make one for herself.” Keith teases.

 

One of the things Lance finds most attractive, Keith’s learned, is a guy who shows interest in his family as well as him, so of course he’s carefully taken note of everything Lance has ever told him about the different members of the family, which is a lot of information about at least eleven people.

 

In response Lance grabs his wrist and pulls him down so that he falls into the flowers, causing the petals of some to explode into the air. Then, laughing, Lance straddles his lap, and everything is completely alright for a few moments as Keith leans up to tuck a stray bit of hair behind Lance’s ear and pull him down into his lips.

 

—

 

Later Keith stands in front of one of Lance’s old mirrors dressed in one of his father’s old black tuxedos, running anxious fingers through his frayed hair. He had been hesitant to try it on for fear it wouldn’t fit plus that gnawing conviction that he shouldn’t be wearing something his father can never wear anymore. His hand strays again to his hair as Lance enters the room, holding a rake.

 

“Having trouble there, mullet?” he asks in passing, amusement buried in his tone.

 

Keith misses this altogether. “It’s my pop’s old tux,” he says simply.

 

At this, Lance pauses. He finally stands the rake up against a wall and walks over to Keith, careful to avoid looking at himself in the mirror.

 

“Oh.”

Lance’s hands come up hesitantly to brush at a stray piece of fuzz on Keith’s shoulder as his feet walk him around to Keith’s front, his back to the mirror now. “I have other tuxes — my brother’s old ones — if you want. You don’t have to wear this one.”

 

Keith shakes his head idly. “No. I’m alright.”

 

A call with Krolia earlier had borne the idea, in fact. It had been a simple routine call to check up on how her son was doing, as Krolia was in the habit of making every week or so. Keith had brought up Hunk’s wedding, which Krolia could make it to, surprisingly.

 

“I’ll bring Kolivan,” she’d said, and Keith had nodded. Along with Curtis marrying Shiro now when it had always been Adam, Keith’s grown accustomed to Kolivan’s new role in his life, which hadn’t been that hard to handle, in retrospect. Krolia and Kolivan had become an item sneakily and very quietly. It had kind of felt like they’d been a thing this whole time, so it wasn’t very much of a surprise to Keith when they’d officially told him about it. The only thing that he’d been averse to was Kolivan’s attempt to act in a “fatherly” way towards him, which was cringy and way too affectionate for Keith’s liking. He’s completely fine with just seeing Kolivan as he’s always seen him - a fellow Blade member whom he respects as a leader.

 

“I’m going with Lance,” Keith had responded. Keith had told her about his steady relationship with Lance only a bit before then, because he’d felt comfortable entrusting her with the knowledge. The thing about Krolia is that she’s not at all the way she could be, like other mums. She doesn’t freak out and most of the time she’s calm, so needless to say, she’d been chill about the whole thing, even remarking that she’d predicted it beforehand. (“I know you too well, son. You can only look at someone like they are your whole world a few times before somebody else catches on.”)

 

“Well, have you thought about what you’re to wear?” Krolia asked then.

 

“I don’t know. Not really. Maybe the same tux I wore for Shiro’s wedding?”

 

“You should wear your father’s old suit.” Krolia had said after a breath, like she’d been preparing herself to say it. “I think it’s time.”

 

“Wha- dad’s?” Keith had blustered. He’d paced around his living quarters then, which had been a small room in a hotel-like building on a planet he was providing relief to.

 

“Yes. There’s one in the back of that closet in the bedroom. It’s probably dusty now, but only because it’s been so long. You should be able to wear it now, Keith. You are his only son.”

 

Keith had paused. Thinking of his father always brings on the PTSD that had followed his death, when Keith had been orphaned and had adopted a kleptomania that had not aged well into his preteen years. He shouldn’t remember his father this way, though. Ideally, his pops the firefighter should be remembered as one of the bravest people Keith has ever known. Setting his mouth hard, Keith had nodded. “Okay.”

 

Now he brushes off some lint on the sleeve, crossing his arms in front of the mirror.

 

“Listen,” Lance says, returning to the rake now. “I don’t know what it’s like to lose a parent, but I’m sure your dad is proud of you, Keith. Wherever he is.”

 

Keith looks back at his reflection and smiles, which shows up as more of a smirk.

 

—

 

On the day of Hunk’s wedding the sky is green. It’s an outdoor ceremony, of course, with the three-tier cake sitting daintily on one of the tables set up under a feeble tent also housing benches for the guests to sit and eat. Everyone is there, dressed in their best and with their plus-ones. Lance is the best man, of course, and Keith leans forward to see him from the front row of seats, not even seeing Hunk for the first few moments because his gaze is stuck on Lance, which makes the latter blush and look down a few times.

 

But then Keith looks at Hunk and Shay standing there at the altar, gazing into each other’s eyes like they’re the only two in the whole universe, and he yearns for marriage so suddenly it brings tears to his eyes. By the time the vows are done, almost everyone in the audience has been reduced to tears, most especially Coran, who sobs loudly in the back. As Hunk and Shay kiss to initialize their marriage, Keith feels a drop of water hit his cheek, and at first he thinks he’s been spat on before he realizes it’s actually starting to rain. The first rain he’s seen in a long time.

 

Everyone starts rushing to the tent for shelter and Keith gets up to follow, but then he notices the lone person still standing at the altar: Lance.

 

“Lance, come on!” he yells, his voice almost lost to the wind.

 

But he can’t help stopping and staring — Lance’s eyes are closed and his head is tilted back as if to feel the rain caress him like Keith would, intimately. Like the rain is something forgotten but also automatic, so that when it returns, it’s as familiar as anything.

 

It starts to really storm and the sky grows darker over Keith’s head. The rain starts to make him shiver even despite his tux as it comes down hard and fast, settling fat droplets all over him. His pop’s tux is getting ruined, and he should care more, but as he stares at Lance he thinks there is no better thing he could use it for than wearing it and admiring his lover’s beauty in it and falling even deeper in love in it, deeper than he would have ever thought possible.

 

And then he rushes to Lance — not knowing everyone is watching from the tent with cake on their plates — being totally and utterly unconscious of everything but Lance, and his hair is sticking to the back of his neck as he embraces him from behind.

 

Lance twists in his arms, facing him and staring before smiling slightly. “I always wanted to have a kiss in the rain.” he says.

 

So Keith doesn’t hesitate in pulling him closer and pressing his open, craving mouth to Lance’s, to cheers and whoops from those sheltered by the tent.

 

And that might have been the day Keith and Lance officially told everyone about their relationship.


	9. July 28th.

July is the month of Lance’s birthday, something he’d mentioned in passing back on the castleship and which Keith had always remembered for some reason he doesn’t know but can probably guess. Luckily, he makes it back to Earth a couple of days before the 28th.

 

Planning to surprise him on his birthday, Keith stays at his desert shack for the better part of two days and communicates with the other former paladins, who are to all meet up on the day of for a small party. After all, it is Lance’s twenty-first birthday, but Keith’s carefully taken note of what Lance has said he wants, and this truly has the most plausibly successful outcome.

 

On the 28th, an unbearably hot day that has him taking off his jacket in favour of the black t-shirt underneath, Keith makes it to Lance’s farm a couple of hours earlier than the rest of the paladins. He manages to catch Lance with a bale of hay in his hands, the rest of his family working behind him at different things.

 

Lance looks up and gives Keith a half-smirk, clutching at his sun hat. He throws the bale of hay down as he watches Keith approach, giving in when he’s taken by the face and gently kissed.

 

“Happy birthday, Lance,” Keith says when they part. Lance’s Altean markings start to glow.

 

“Huh, you remembered?” Lance remarks, a soft surprise on his face.

 

Keith’s brows lower. “Yeah.”

 

Behind Lance, Nadia and Sylvio wave at Keith from the fields, fistfuls of juniberries in their hands.

 

“Hi, Keith!” they chorus.

 

Keith chuckles. “Hey, you two.”

 

Next to them is Lance’s mother, who tends to the flowers. She smiles up at Keith from the grass, holding her sun hat in place and squinting. “Hello, Keith! What a lovely surprise.”

 

“Hi, Mrs. McClain,” Keith responds.

 

“How many times have I told you to call me by my first name?” Lance’s mother chides. “You’re practically part of the family now.”

 

Keith rubs his arm with a sheepish grin. He would if he didn’t feel so awkward in her presence still. There’s something about the intimate side of his relationship with Lance that makes him want to tread lightly around his parents.

 

“Anyway, are you planning on taking my son out?” she asks, already thankfully on to the next topic.

 

Keith looks at Lance. “Hopefully, yes.”

 

“Lance, you should go. The company of your friends would do you good.” his mother encourages.

 

Lance’s grip on his rake tightens slightly, fingers becoming white, before he relaxes. “You sure, mamà? I still have to feed the cows —“

 

“Vamos. Estaremos bien aquí.”

Lance’s mother motions toward Keith with a wave of her hand, and Keith offers a hand to his lover, which Lance takes.

 

“Have fun!” she calls as they climb onto Keith’s skiff, Lance’s skinny arms wrapped around Keith’s waist.

 

“Don’t have too much fun!” his brother Luis teases, which earns him an elbow in the gut from his wife Lisa.

 

—

 

The old paladins all meet up at a bar in town, which serves up alcohol in a style typical of years past — wooden bar, bartender with a tea towel slung over his shoulder, shots of burning rum and vodka.

 

Only Shiro is there when Keith and Lance park the skiff and enter. He’s claimed a large table tucked away to the far side and is nursing a beer, but motions lazily when he sees them.

 

“Hey, you two,” he says warmly. “Happy birthday, Lance.”

 

Lance smiles as he sits down. “Thanks, Shiro. How are things?”

 

Shiro nods. “Things are good. More peaceful than ever. I’m kind of not used to it yet. It’s almost eerie.”

 

“I know what you mean,” Lance responds. “The other day I almost got scared Zarkon was going to take the lions.”

 

Shiro laughs, but the pain is real and still there for all of them. “And how about you, Keith?” he asks, focusing now on his all but adopted younger brother as he sits down next to Lance. “How are your missions going?”

 

Keith drums his fingers on the table, the wood splintering slightly beneath them. “I think we’re making significant headway. One planet at a time.”

He tilts his head as an Unilu waiter glides over, a tea towel hanging over his shoulder and a tray pressed in one hand while a pen and pad of paper lie poised in two others. “What can I get for youse today?” he demands in a heavy accent that’s closest to an Earthen Boston accent.

 

“Oh, we’re waiting for some friends of ours,” Shiro tells him, and Lance and Keith nod in agreement.

 

“Alright, I’ll come back in 5.” replies the waiter before swerving away to serve another table.

 

Pidge and Hunk arrive soon afterwards, out of breath and laughing.

 

“So in the end we just ended up switching it for a node,” Pidge is saying. Her scientific speak has a habit of fizzling against everyone else’s ears except Hunk’s who is nodding as he approaches the table. But his eyes light up when he sees Lance.

 

“Lance! Happy birthday!” he cries happily, immediately smushing his best friend in a bear hug before he even has the chance to stand up. Hunk’s grown a lot as well — he sports a stubble now and a rougher, broader chin; his muscles have filled in; his hands are the epitome of a chef’s hands, simultaneously soft and calloused. His old bandana is still lovingly tied around his head.

 

Lance laughs under him and grips his arms to hold him tighter. “Thanks, Hunk.”

 

When he finally lets go and sits down, Pidge smiles, taking a seat next to him. “Yeah, happy birthday, Lance. How old are you now?”

 

Lance looks down, counting on his fingers. “Errr, 21 now?” he seems to ask. Keith nods.

 

“Wow. Hard to believe when we met, you all were teenagers,” Shiro remarks, his beer almost all gone. He stares at his floating arm solemnly.

 

The other former paladins smile and laugh at the memory. “I was barely a chef back then,” Hunk chuckles. “I liked to think I was, but I really wasn’t.Not yet.”

 

“Nah, Hunk, you don’t give yourself enough credit,” Lance responds. His hand claps on Hunk’s shoulder. “To this day I wish I could’ve been there when you infamously yelled at a space mall vendor about his own food.”

 

They all laugh at that. Keith only nods, remembering how no-nonsense he’d been, approaching a knife vendor in order primarily to get information about his mother’s Blade. It seems he didn’t know how to relax when he was younger.

 

“I wish I could’ve gone with you.” Shiro says.

 

“Unfortunately, your lion had other plans,” says a voice behind him, and the paladins look to see Coran himself stepping out of the shadows of the other side of the tavern.

 

Coran looks the same as he’s always done, except that in the time after Allura’s death, feeling responsible, he’s lost a bit of colour in his cheeks and energy in his step. As always in alien situations, however, he’s reverted back to his appropriate pirate wardrobe, complete with eye patch over one of his perfectly functioning eyes.

 

“Hello, Numbers one through five. Happy birthday, number three.” he says fondly as he takes a seat between Hunk and Shiro, completing the little circle.

 

Lance nods, eyes shining.

 

—

The waiter comes by a little bit afterwards as promised, and takes down drink and meal orders. Everyone orders alcohol, unsurprisingly. Keith tips back a pint of ice cold beer while Hunk, the cultured among them, sips at a fine wine. Pidge goes for vodka, which she can handle, to the shock of everyone else for her short stature. Shiro is unsurprised behind his own refilled beer, muttering that she truly has her brother’s alcohol tolerance. Lance chooses a gin and tonic, claiming he’s seen it drunk before so many times in movies that he wants to try it out. Coran goes for classic Altean moonshine. It really doesn’t surprise anyone that he can hold his alcohol.

 

For a meal, everyone votes that Lance can choose, and so everyone just gets to share appetizers. An assortment of mozzarella sticks, garlic knots, jalapeño poppers, calamari, and shrimp rotates the table as they all talk and discuss their current lives. Lance’s Altean markings glow the whole time.

 

They all leave gradually a couple of hours afterward. Hunk has to leave first, wanting to get home before Shay starts to worry, and Shiro agrees, but about Curtis. Hunk reaches around the back of Lance’s chair to squeeze his shoulders lovingly before departing, and Shiro’s arm fist bumps Lance’s fist as he takes off. Pidge is next, excusing herself to go back home and modify Chip. She gives Lance a playful sock in the arm as she leaves.

 

Coran is still nursing his moonshine a half-hour later, in the early hours of the morning.

“I can stay here all night, my boy,” he waves a hand dismissively when Lance asks. “I probably will!”

His subsequent chuckle is nothing reassuring, but Keith reasons that they’d better head out too.

 

Lance is more than a little tipsy when they leave the bar, so Keith slings an arm around his shoulders, opting to wait for a cab. He calls one using his phone service and sits down at the curb, Lance following suit.

 

“You ever think it’s kind of weird that we kept cabs?” he asks out of the blue. Yeah, he’s definitely tipsy. “Like, we have all these advancements in everything but we still have cabs.”

 

Keith shrugs. “I really don’t know.”

 

“You know what else is funny?” Lance cuts him off. One of his hands tangles in the front of Keith’s shirt, the fingers brushing against the bare skin of the highest part of his chest. “Sometimes I get guilty that I’m with you when Allura’s dead. Isn’t that funny?”

 

Keith stares, his cheeks hot. He isn’t supposed to take everything Lance says seriously, but he sort of trusts the words of a tipsy person over a sober person because a tipsy person’s words just gush out of them. It’s one step up from being drunk but somehow just as good.

 

Keith takes Lance’s hand from his shirt and intertwines their fingers together. “Yes. It’s funny, Lance.”

 

At that moment the cab pulls up, saving him from any further conversation.

 

Of course, the driver is an ornery Unilu elder, who demands payment even before they’ve set off. Keith settles himself and Lance in the back seat and obstructs the driver’s view of them with the screen.

 

Just at that moment, as if on cue, Lance rolls into Keith and pushes his hands against his chest as their lips fall clumsily onto each other. “What better place to make out than the backseat of a taxi?” Lance asks, lust lacing his voice and eyes, smirking down at his boyfriend.

 

Keith stares up at Lance for his part, his hands itching to hold Lance’s hips. “I can’t, Lance. You’re tipsy. I don’t want to do that.” he says.

 

Lance groans in protest, scooching closer in his lap so that their most delicate areas rub against one another, winding his arms around Keith’s neck and starting to leave hickies on the skin.

“Please, Keith. Come on, it’s my birthday.”

 

Keith shakes his head imperceptibly, though he’s shaking and aroused and blown wide and it’d be so easy to let Lance keep going. “Maybe in the morning.” he promises. Lance grunts and rolls off of him. His absence is almost painful, but then Keith smiles and takes one of his hands, kissing the roughness on the back of it.

 

“Happy birthday again, Lance.”


	10. 21 and a Day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the lateness on this one! Happy new year everyone!

Bonus! The morning after.

 

Keith wakes up on the lonely patchwork couch in his lonely dilapidated shack, still in his day clothes from the last night. He groans, rubbing his eyes with his palms as he flicks his eyes to the ceiling, calling on the memories from Lance’s twenty first birthday. It isn’t hard. Evidently he has a way better tolerance for alcohol than Lance, because he remembers Lance being the tipsy one, where he himself had somehow managed to call a cab. His mind screams fear all of a sudden — he hadn’t done anything in that cab with Lance, had he?

 

His phone is pressed against his flank, in the pocket of his jeans. He pulls it out and rubs his face as he dials Lance’s.

 

“Shhhhharpshooter here,” Lance answers groggily after about five rings.

 

Keith can’t help but grin. “And you said you could handle your alcohol?”

 

“That you, Keith? If it is, shut up. Not my fault gin and tonic is incredibly potent.”

 

“Okay, sure.”

Keith shifts the phone to test against his shoulder as he leans down, swinging his legs off the couch so he can sit up and reach his shoes. “How are you feeling?”

 

“Like a freaking mctruck hit me.” Lance responds. “Why?”

 

Keith shrugs despite the fact that Lance can’t see him. “I was thinking of visiting.”

 

“You know you don’t have to call me for that, right? My mom adores you. It gets kind of annoying sometimes because she’s always asking for you, but this morning she didn’t even tell me off for being drunk. She just started crying because she’s either sad or happy I’m twenty one.”

 

Keith nods at the floor, smiling fondly. He remembers how Krolia had tried not to shed a tear the day of Keith’s twenty first birthday, which had been a mission day with the Blades. In the end, both she and Kolivan had calmly cried without making any sound at all, and then Krolia had grabbed him into a hug and nearly squeezed him to death.

 

Knowing Lance’s mother, who he knows loves fiercely and without exception, loves him too is one of the most touching things he’s ever felt. Acxa has also been exposed to this, even though she and Veronica have only been friends since just recently.

 

“Keith? You okay?” Lance asks, totally alert and not like he’d been slurring the last five minutes.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. Uh. I’ll be at the farm around midday, then?”

“Sure. If you want to come.”

 

Keith nods and is about to bid him goodbye when Lance starts whispering, sending shivers up his spine.

 

“And I haven’t forgotten about the promise you made me,” he’s saying, and Keith’s heart beats faster. “If you come around 12, I’ll be the only one here. No parents, no siblings, no kids, nobody but me.”

 

Keith chuckles through a soft moan. “You really are still tipsy, huh?”

 

“You know it, Samurai.”

 

Keith can hear the wink in his voice.

 

—

 

Keith’s never gotten anywhere as quickly as he got to Lance’s farm that day. His usual fifteen minute commute by skiff takes him half that time today. Lance is on his hands and knees in the garden when Keith arrives, picking juniberries. He dismounts the skiff and squeezes past the gate, kneeling when he gets to Lance like he can’t stand properly around him. Lance turns, clutches at his sunhat as the bottom of his shirt billows in the wind. A smile decorates his face.

 

“Hey, Samurai,” he says, making to kneel.

 

Keith stops him with a hand under his jaw, bringing his face up until it’s inches from his own.

His fingers rub against the surprisingly harsh surface of Lance’s chin, and his eyebrows raise.

 

“You haven’t shaved,” he remarks.

 

In response, Lance just shrugs, but looks away as well, not quite meeting Keith’s eyes. “Starting thinking about the princess again.” he offers. Keith looks down and lovingly takes his gardening gloves off, pulling both of Lance’s yielding hands up to his mouth and leaving a feather kiss across the backs of them.

 

“Are you sure you want to keep going then?” he asks softly. His voice is a murmur against Lance’s knuckles, which makes him shudder and take back his hands. He then pulls Keith close to him by the shoulders, fingers biting into Keith’s jacket, as their lips bruise against each other. His neck falls back and Keith sets about leaving hickies as Lance moans.

 

Grinning, Lance’s eyes flick up to meet Keith’s gaze. “If you can’t tell, that’s totally a yes.”

 

So Keith keeps going, pulling at Lance’s shirt with calloused fingers, tracing a pattern down his chest. His mouth moves downward, kissing now at the taut skin of his shoulders and then his torso. Lance’s hands scrape in Keith’s hair, tug and pull but only lightly, skin on his neck already blooming pink.

 

Keith pauses unexpectedly and returns to Lance’s lips, going slow and heady. Lance meets him eagerly but they soon slow down and end up only heavily making out, content to just drink in the taste of each other.

 

“Happy birthday, Lance,” Keith murmurs after they’re spent, and Lance kisses his temple.


	11. Sprinklers.

With July and August comes that heady time of year when Lance has to trade in his flannel shirts for tank tops and wipe his hand across his forehead as he bronzes in the sun. His grass and juniberries, susceptible to dying, wither, only to perk up again when Lance buys and sets up sprinklers on the lawn. The sprinklers they have now float above the lawn and create a climate of humidity underfoot, so that dew clings to the tendrils of grass. Lance takes to going barefoot, as do all his family members when they come to visit. Keith is more mystified by his beauty than ever — every inch of skin Lance shows seems to do Keith in more and more.

 

He comes over on and off, but finds himself always looking forward to the visits, timing them so he doesn’t seem too eager. He’s sensitive to the heat, but he’s become better in the time he’s spent in his shack. The desert has a way of hardening people — he’s grateful in particular that his pasty white skin seems to tan rather than burn. His face becomes weathered and rugged, his scar now fitting in better to his face than ever before.

 

One of the days Keith comes over he brings naengmyeon — a cold Korean noodle dish he remembers his father making on special occasions in the summer, which he’d asked Hunk to help him make especially. He walks to the farm with the heavy pot, designed with all of Lance’s family in mind. Lance is kneeling in the garden, a spade in one hand and soil in the other. His tank top rides up on his waist and his muscles bulge. Keith clears his throat, bustling through the gate.

 

Lance looks up and his eyes light up. As Keith approaches he sees the sweat glistening on his forehead, making his hair stick to his face. “Hey, Keith! Whatcha got there?”

 

Keith holds the pot tight against his chest. “I brought something my dad used to make for warm weather.” he says.

 

Lance stands. “Oh. Cool, thanks.”

He swaggers over, stripping himself of his gloves. His hands reach out for the pot and his eyes flicker up to meet Keith’s. “Whoa, it’s heavy.”

 

“Yeah,” Keith’s laugh is breathy and awkward. “I didn’t know how much of your family would be here.”

 

As if on cue, Lance’s niece and nephew dart out of the farmhouse, arms spread wide. Keith smiles and opens his arms as well to accept Nadia as she barrels into them. “Hi, Keith!” she cries as she peers up at him, breathless from running.

 

Lance watches on with a fond smile as Keith hugs the girl and spreads his other arm to the side so Sylvio can dart into the embrace.

 

“Hey, you two.” Keith’s saying, laughter in his voice. Lance swears he’s a sucker for them, and even though he denies that he’s good with kids, he’s almost like another uncle to them. “Still getting into trouble?”

 

“Yup,” Sylvio responds proudly.

 

Keith chuckles. “Good.”

 

At that moment Acxa emerges from the house, and the two kids scramble away from Keith and over to her to cling to her legs. Keith stares, unaware that she would be here. “Acxa? What are you doing here?”

 

Acxa looks over. She’s always been good at hiding emotion on her face, and her shock isn’t evident. “Keith? What are _you_ doing here?”

 

Lance shrugs. “Didn’t you know? Veronica has a crush on her so she always invites her over.”

 

“Shut up, Leandro!” Veronica yells from inside the house, which makes Keith suspect her even more.

 

Acxa is blushing dark blue and crossing her arms defensively when Keith looks back at her. “We’re just friends.”

 

Keith raises an eyebrow, not buying it but not wanting to get involved.

 

“When is the next mission?” Acxa asks then, Keith suspects to change the subject. “Has Kolivan sad anything?”

 

“No, not yet.” Keith responds. “I’ll let you know.”

 

With that, Acxa nods and disappears back inside the house with the children in tow. She wouldn’t have been able to pry them off even if she’d tried.

 

Keith turns back to Lance then, who is smirking above the pot in his arms. “Totally not buying it. I’m calling it now — they’re gonna get together before Christmas.”

 

Keith shakes his head and walks over to take the pot back. When their hands brush against each other at the trade off, Keith gets the same butterflies he did the first time their hands touched. His gaze crosses Lance’s and warmth floods over his face as he hoists the pot into his arms, which increases exponentially when Lance kisses his cheek. “Come on, cariño. Let’s try some of that soup you brought.”

 

Keith freezes for a solid minute before following him into the farmhouse.

 

—

 

Lance’s mother likes the naengmyeon more than Keith would have been able to predict — in fact, everyone seems to like it, including Acxa. Unused to the positive attention, Keith grins bashfully and gives the recipe when prompted, crossing his arms awkwardly.

 

Later that day, after all the naengmyeon has been eaten and the sun is going down, Lance returns to the garden and picks flowers for a crown while Keith watches from the porch. Everyone else is inside, save Nadia and Sylvio. They help their uncle choose the “best” flowers and attempt to make their own crowns. As Keith watches, Lance pauses.

 

“Hey, do you guys wanna go under the sprinklers?”

 

Emphatically the kids shout approval and rush toward the sprinklers eagerly, still in their day clothes. Lance doesn’t stop them — he joins in, chasing them around growing wetter by the second. Keith falls deeper in love, like that’s even possible, hearing Lance’s laughter and watching him interact with the children. He has to stop himself from rushing and taking Lance in his arms right then and there.

 

Only once Lisa, the kids’ mother, emerges from the house and beckons her sopping kids back inside, does Keith have Lance all alone.

 

Lance is shaking out his wet hair and nothing is stopping Keith now from grabbing him and pulling him into a sweet, soft kiss, the sun setting rich across their faces.


	12. Injury.

The sky is hazy with the sunset. Lance looks up and catches it a few times, squinting to get the best view. It’s a shame pictures don’t do them justice. He remembers being a kid, a preteen back in Cuba, down at Veradero Beach, with one of those old polaroid cameras — he’d gotten it for his tenth birthday — squinting at the same sky and taking picture after picture so as to hopefully capture the beauty at least once. His eagerness has made his parents chuckle and his siblings irritated — “You’re wasting the film, Leandro,” Luis would always say, and his abuelita would sit Lance in her lap and tell him to go right ahead and take as many pictures as he wanted, that she’d buy him more film — but ultimately, when checking back the same pictures over and over again at the end of the day, he’d be disappointed. Now he’s just happy he still gets to even see the sunsets. He’s learned not to take things for granted.

 

Keith likes the nighttime. Sundown is a common time for him to come visit the farm, which he does so often he should probably be considered a resident while he’s not with the Blade on relief missions. Sometimes he comes by on his motorcycle, which he’s always riding stupidly, one hand at his side or carrying something while the other one does the work. There’s a heavy expanse of desert outside the farm, and the motorbike sprays up dust into the air with its wheels as Keith parks it near the farm’s gate.

 

Today Lance expects him at this time — sundown — and he comes at sundown, but for the first time ever, Keith falls off the motorbike.

 

He’s carrying some shopping bags or something and they fly off somewhere when Keith loses control of the bike, which Lance would have never seen coming. He doesn’t know it, but it’s because Keith’s gazing at him that he loses his focus and topples off head-first. Keith’s first response to this is to leap up, gasping in pain. Lance’s first response? To laugh.

 

Seeing as he looks fine save a few scratches, Lance bursts out laughing and comes over to unlatch the gate so he can survey the damage. The scene outside the gate looks like a whole-ass collision. The bike isn’t too badly damaged, it’s just flipped on its side. The Garrison had awarded all the paladins free stuff for their contribution to the war effort, and that included a specific request of anything they wanted. Keith asked for a motorbike — a shiny black one, like the ones Lance had dreamed about riding around town when he was younger. Somewhere in the back of his mind he thinks fondly on that part of himself — the juvenile Lance who wanted to impress people, and thought he could do it without impressing himself first. He hugs his arms uncomfortably, suddenly pushing away that memory.

 

His gaze trails to the bags — scattered across the sand like a crime scene. He can barely make out a carton of milk, and his heart grows a little bit bigger. Keith had gotten groceries.

 

Keith is standing a bit away from the crash, holding his head and wincing. “Didn’t mean to do that.” he mutters as Lance sidles over smiling and places his hands on either side of Keith’s scratched-up face.

 

“I’m thinking the trick looked a lot cooler in your head,” Lance smirks, bringing Keith’s forehead smoothly to his own. “What am I gonna do with your clumsy ass?”

 

In response Keith moves closer. “I brought milk. You were out of it.”

 

“I have cows, dumbass.” Lance returns, rolling his eyes. “Quiznak, why do I even like you?”

 

He pulls away slightly to kiss Keith’s forehead, then his nose, cheeks, chin, jaw, neck and finally lips. Keith brings his hands up to hold Lance’s elbows as he does, leaning into the touch of his lover. The longing to say those three magic words nearly rips him inside out, but he hesitates. There’s still a nag that tells him Lance isn’t ready yet. But that’s alright.

 

Lance’s fingers leaving his face and brushing over a bruised patch on Keith’s shoulder makes him hiss suddenly. Lance chuckles.

 

“Aw, my poor injured samurai. C’mon, let’s get you cleaned up.”

 

Keith follows him into the farmhouse, abandoning his bike and the groceries.

 

Lance leads him into the bathroom, which Keith’s used a number of times. It’s one of the most intimate spaces of the house to him, only because he’s been in it with Lance. As the latter hunts in the cupboards for bandages Keith sits on the toilet and studies him.

 

“Staring at my ass?” Lance asks coyly, head still buried in the cupboard. Keith’s cheeks flame red. On the contrary — he’d been simply committing Lance’s every curve to memory in silent devotion.

 

He can’t think of much to say to that so he blurts,

“You’re beautiful.”

 

Lance’s head pokes out of the cupboard, his hand wielding various medical components. He’s staring at Keith. “Thanks.” he says. It’s odd - they’ve been in this relationship for years now, yet it still feels so new to both of them.

 

Lance clears his throat and kneels across from Keith. The bathroom lights are a dull blue, glazing over Lance’s face in the most mesmerizing way.

 

“Your hair is getting so ratty,” Lance complains, sifting a hand through Keith’s fringe.

 

Keith surges forward to kiss him then. The toilet seat creaks and own hand presses against Lance’s jaw, the other on the back of his neck. Both their mouthes open wide for the other and Lance’s eyes flutter closed as he savours the taste of Keith like it’s the first time again. “Mm,” he moans. It takes every ounce of willpower in his body to push Keith away by the shoulders and take up the medical things in his hands again. “Let me examine you first.” he laughs.

 

Keith sits back down on the toilet, his eyes scanning Lance again.

 

There’s a particularly nasty cut above Keith’s fringe on his forehead, which Lance sprays with alcohol. When Keith whines in pain Lance responds with, “Oh, cut it out, you wimp. It’s just rubbing alcohol.”

 

But then he rubs antibacterial cream over it, smoothes a bandage over it and kisses the bandage lovingly.

 

He does the same with the other scratches across Keith’s bust, pausing to look over the last one, a nasty bruise at the top of his bicep. “Well, that’s gonna take a bit of time to heal.”

 

“I coulda told you that,” Keith returns.

 

“And all because you were a klutz on your bike.”

 

Keith laughs outright. “Pot calling the kettle black, huh?”

 

Lance’s nose wrinkles. “The hell does that mean?”

 

Keith shakes his head. “Lance, I’ve seen you fall over nothing.”

 

“Keith, I’ve told you, it’s the ghosts.” Lance frowns. “And you’re supposed to be an alien enthusiast.”

 

“Not even close to being the same.”

 

Lance stares at him and Keith stares back for a good five seconds before Keith grips Lance’s collar, drawing him in. “Kiss me right fucking now.”

 

“Gladly,” Lance smirks, and obliges.

 

—

 

A week later, Keith awkwardly explains his injury (plus several new small bruises on his neck, which make it infinitely more embarrassing) to the rest of the Blade and gets sent back to Earth to rest by his very amused mother.


	13. Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Day. The day where couples get each other sappy gifts as a symbol of their love and kids give each other little cards because they have to. Lance remembers that time before the Garrison, at his regular school. Being surrounded by his parents, Luis and heavily pregnant Lisa, and the rest of his siblings with whatever new beau they had, Lance had plain and simply loved love. He’d sent countless cards to his crushes and everyone else — Hunk’s told him more than once about the drawer he has dedicated just to the cards Lance has given him.

 

The Garrison had a strict policy about these types of things — you couldn’t very well give someone a card without distracting them from their work. Besides, it would have been hard to sneak out and get any. Generally, Lance avoided sneaking out as he didn’t want to get expelled ever. Until the day he snuck out and became a paladin of Voltron.

 

In space aboard the castleship, he wasn’t keeping track of days — besides, the Alteans had a completely different system of time that he honestly never got right. He would have loved to have been able to introduce Allura to Valentine’s Day at least once, but she’s gone now. He wonders if she knew what Valentine’s Day is.

 

It’s been almost a decade since her death and a few years since he and Keith started dating. Lance can’t remember the last time he celebrated Valentine’s Day. This year truly feels like the beginning of new things, like there’s been a haze over him until now. Even when they’d initially come back to Earth he hadn’t slipped back into the routine of celebrating holidays like he used to. His family has been pretty good about letting him mourn and rest, he guesses, because McClain Holiday Bashes are usually all out. But the truth is, holidays don’t get him as excited as they used to. Realizing this, which happens to be while he’s milking one of his cows in the field, causes him to stop dead as a pang of sadness washes over him. It’s the sort of grief you feel for years lost — really, now he’s coming to the realization that the adventurous him might be gone.

 

It’s February 14th and he’s milking cows.

 

It’s that moment that Rachel decides to almost give him a heart attack.

 

“What the hell are you doing milking Kaltenecker right now?” she snaps from behind him. Lance yelps and tumbled backwards off his stool. From the grass he glares up at her with all his might, just like they’re little and fighting again.

 

“What the hell are you doing scaring me like that?!” he yells back.

 

Rachel shakes her head. “Hopeless. Do you even remember what day it is today?”

 

Lance frowns as he raises up on his knees and then his feet, grunting and picking grass off his clothes. “Wednesday?” he guesses, playing dumb to rile her up. “Besides, this beauty is not Kaltenecker, and that’s cowist. Her name is Loretta.”

He pats the cow’s belly for emphasis, and Rachel rolls her eyes.

 

“Still my same idiot twin, huh?”

 

Lance sneaks a very petty hand gesture at her.

 

Rachel carefully ignores this and goes on. “So... aren’t you going to get off your ass and seize the day, as they say?”

 

Lance squints, already righting his stool so he can continue milking. “What do you mean? Why don’t _you_ go seize the day?”

 

“Lance, don’t you remember how exciting Valentine’s Day used to be?” Rachel implores him. “Don’t you remember the magic of it all? Getting cards from people and sending them, and then baking heart cookies with mamá back home?”

 

Lance’s heart pangs at the raw memory. “Getting a little sappy there, Rach.”

But his voice is soft, and the jest isn’t really all there. His back is turned to her on purpose.

 

“You never really got to be with someone on Valentine’s Day, did you? All the rest of us did, but not you.”

 

Lance can’t even say anything, because it’s true. Every one of his siblings has had someone at one point or another to share the novelty holiday with.

 

“I sent a card to Jenny Darabond that one time,” he protests weakly, but Rachel laughs.

 

“So doesn’t count.” she snickers.

“Look, Lance, you’re like the sappiest out of all of us for love. You were always chasing girls to love you and you had more crushes than any of us combined, and the fact of it is, you deserve it the most. I’ve only met Keith a couple of times, but I know enough from watching him look at you. Like, I’m jealous. I wish someone would look at me like that.”

 

Lance’s head drops as he gives up milking and turns to face Rachel. She’s looking at the cow, eyes glazed over but bright. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that if you feel like you don’t deserve to celebrate Valentine’s Day again because of what happened to the princess, and you feel like you owe it to her to like, stay miserable forever, you’re totally wrong. You can be yourself again, _hermano._ Valentine’s Day is a part of that.”

 

“I didn’t even think of it that way,” Lance confesses. “I don’t know. I never got to spend Valentine’s Day with Allura.”

 

Rachel looks down at him now. “So you can always think about what could have been, and have something different with someone else. Look, spending the day with a significant other will be a lot different than just giving people cards. It’ll be something new, right?”

 

Lance smiles. That’s one thing he and her have in common — a love of trying new things, which is slowly coming back to him. “Yeah. I guess.”

 

—-

“Shiro, what do you get someone on Valentine’s Day?”

Keith is pacing around the pod taking him and Acxa back to Earth, still in his Blade uniform, his phone in his hand.

 

“Hello to you too, Keith,” Shiro responds, amused. “I’m guessing this ‘someone’ is Lance?”

 

Acxa is studying Keith intently, her legs tucked underneath her on the seat. Keith’s long since abandoned his. Acxa may as well be poised with a pen and paper in order to take notes on exactly how to treat a McClain on Valentine’s Day.In her case, however, she and her McClain are not an item as of yet. She’s hoping to remedy that on this day.

 

“What do you mean, _get_ for them?” Shiro’s asking calmly as Keith’s pacing grows more and more frantic.

 

The impatience from Keith’s youth is quick to return and he very nearly _growls_.

“You know what I mean! Like do I get him chocolate, balloons? What do you get Curtis?”

 

“Hmm, on a good day, I’d order like a dozen roses or something,” Shiro offers.

 

Keith nods. “Flowers.”

His face contorts then. “Why would he want dead plants?”

 

Shiro’s silence is purely hesitation. “I don’t know, Keith. It’s just romantic, I guess. Have you and Lance not talked about Valentine’s Day?”

 

Keith shakes his head as if Shiro can see him. “No. I assumed he needed time to, you know, heal. I was always afraid of going too fast, I guess.”

He mumbles the last part but Shiro still hears it and smiles on the other end.

 

“Well, look, Lance is lucky to have you.” he says. “You know what, just get him whatever you think is best. Valentine’s Day is different for every couple. It could be ten bouquets of flowers and fifteen boxes of chocolate for one couple and just lying on the couch together watching movies for another. Maybe even just you surprising him by coming home early will be enough. Go with your gut, Keith.”

 

“Alright, thanks, Shiro. Bye.”

Keith hangs up and slumps into the seat opposite Acxa.

 

“Ughhhh,” he moans, throwing his head into his hands.

 

Acxa nods slowly. “Yes, I agree.” she says sympathetically.

“These human holidays are hard to keep track of.”

 

“I know, and I’m human.” Keith groans.

 

“Well, would you like to go to the store together? This way we have no chance of getting the wrong things.” Acxa suggests, hands clasped.

 

Keith nods from his hands. “Okay.”

 

—

Lance knows for sure Keith won’t be back on Earth by today, as he’d told him while clearing his throat 20,000 times that he’d be coming back in a couple of weeks or so. Lance wonders if he’s coming down with something. Space flu sucks.

 

So he calls Hunk.

 

“Heyyyy, Hunk! How’ve you been, buddy?”

He smiles instantly upon hearing Hunk pick up.

 

“Good, good!” Hunk responds happily. “I’m just about to leave work so I can get Shay some flowers. How are you doing?”

 

“Just fine,” Lance lies. “Hey, listen. Why don’t you pick me up too and we can go together? You’re over in Samoa, right?”

 

“Yeah, for sure! You looking to get something for Keith?”

 

Lance can’t help the dreamy smile that crosses his face at the mention of Keith. “Yeah.”

 

“Okay, well, be ready in ten.” Hunk tells him. Lance can hear him jangling his car keys in the background. “See you soon.”

 

“Love ya, big guy.” Lance says suddenly, before he can hang up. The words flew out of his mouth, but he means them.

 

Hunk pauses. “Love you too, Lance,” he says, as if he’s stunned. “I’ll be there soon.”

 

—

Hunk arrives, as promised, ten minutes after he hung up. He pulls up, sand billowing around then tyres of the car, and comes through the gate, his hand poised to knock. Lance opens the door before he can, and throws himself at his best friend.

 

Hunk laughs and throws his arms around Lance in return. Lance buries his face into Hunk’s shoulder, breathing in the scent of the food he’d been cooking. It’s always comforted him to hug Hunk and just breathe his scent in, because he’s never smelt bad. Neither of them think this is weird — it’s carried over from the castleship, when Hunk would cook comfort foods for everyone, including garlic knots for Lance, and then let Lance slump against him when the tears at the perfect replica of his mother’s cooking came over him. This didn’t happen often, as he was always concerned with looking macho in front of the princess, but sometimes Lance didn’t care. Hunk was like the comfiest sentient couch sometimes. He didn’t even speak when this happened, save for a few comforting words, and always made Lance feel entirely at home.

 

After Lance detaches himself from Hunk, he grins. “So??? You and Shay??? How’s married life?”

It’s cool how they can just start carrying on a conversation right after a hug fest. Hunk’s both like and unlike a sibling to him. On the one hand, he’s Lance best friend and privy to all his secrets and crushes. On the other hand, he’s not at all unbearable and Lance would definitely _choose_ to live with him rather than be forced to.

 

Hunk grins back, nodding. They’re starting to walk down to his car as they talk. “Oh, she’s wonderful. She’s like the best wife I could ever ask for. And having her on my culinary team is the best thing ever, because it’s like we see each other all the time.”

 

Lance suddenly thinks of Keith with the Blades. “Yeah, that must be pretty cool.”

 

They climb into the car, Lance taking shotgun, and Hunk turns to him, face aghast. “Sorry, I didn’t mean - you know,”

 

Lance waves him off. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not your fault Keith’s foreign to human holidays.”

He laughs hollowly with the words, but again, the jest really isn’t in it.

 

—

 

“We’ve been standing here for a varga,” Acxa notifies Keith.

 

They’ve been staring at a display of flowers in the grocery store for a total of an hour trying to silently decide which would be the best bouquet for each of their McClains.

 

“I don’t even know what kind of flowers he likes,” Keith groans, crossing his arms.

 

“Would you two like some help?” asks someone from behind them, making Keith and Acxa both jump and turn quickly.

 

It’s an Unilu guy wearing a vest with the colours of the store on it. He looks kindly, which is suspicious, for the Unilu always look like they have something to frown about.

 

“Uh, yeah.” Keith says. “I guess.”

 

“We’re seeking flowers for our significant others,” Acxa tells the Unilu, inclining her head. She and Veronica aren’t quite a couple yet, but Acxa knows Veronica thinks highly of this holiday.

 

“But we have no idea where to start, and we’re running on a timer.” Keith adds.

 

The Unilu man’s face cracks into a weathered grin. “Ahh, young love. And you both do not know what flowers your partners like?”

 

Keith is ashamed to nod. “Yeah.”

 

“Alright, you hopeless kids, let’s help you get those flowers.” the Unilu man says with a laugh that Keith doesn’t appreciate.

 

—

When Lance and Hunk are done in the store, Lance has a bag full of stuff for Keith and Hunk has one for Shay. Lance is chattering openly now, having sunk back into the usual haze of talking to his best friend. They’re still catching up when they get into Hunk’s car, and when they pull up at Lance’s farm. This time Hunk holds out his arms for a hug and Lance gladly sinks into the embrace before leaving the car to go back into the farmhouse.

 

—

Keith speeds up to the farmhouse gate an hour after Lance gets home, a bundle of nerves in the pit of his stomach. His bouquet in its bag dangles from the handle of his motorbike, his hand so tight around the handles of the bag that his knuckles have turned white.

 

Scanning the fields he sees no trace of Lance, and so rushes inside the farmhouse with the bouquet behind his back.

 

“Lance?” he calls.

 

There’s a hitch of breath. Then, “Keith?”

 

Keith grins and follows the voice to the bedroom, Lance’s bedroom, the most beautiful place in the world to him at the moment. He peers in and sees his Lance standing near the bed with an overflowing grocery bag on top of the sheets. Lance’s face is a mix of shock and delight at the sight of him. Keith’s heart drums hard in his heart.

 

“You said two weeks,” is all Lance can say.

 

Keith nods. “I was lying, Lance. I wanted to surprise you. For Valentine’s Day.”

His fingers brush against the wood of the door frame and leave them when all of a sudden Lance rushes to take Keith in his arms, lifting him and twirling him into the room. Keith, caught off guard, laughs and holds Lance’s face in his hands, craving his touch. He gazes into his eyes as they stop spinning, the room disappearing around them.

 

“I missed you, Sharpshooter.” he says simply. Lance leans his face up to meet Keith’s lips, lowers him so he can grip him better and push him onto a part of the bed that isn’t taken up by stuff. Keith’s back hits the sheets and he turns to smell them. “They smell like you.” he notes, and smiles, blushing.

 

Lance pauses from his place atop Keith to laugh. “You weirdo!” he cries, starting to kiss the other parts of Keith’s face.

 

“Lance,” Keith says commandingly, drawing him back to him. “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

 

Lance grins. His cheeks burn and his head falls against Keith’s chest. “Do you know this is the first and only Valentine’s Day I’ve ever spent with someone I was with?”

 

Keith brushes his fingers across his hair. “You’ve never spent Valentine’s Day with any of those girls you say wear ‘all over’ you?” he asks absently.

 

Lance sits up then, moving himself into Keith’s lap. “Haha. You don’t have to be jealous, _mi_ _amor_. I said this was my first, didn’t I?”

 

Keith’s fingers pause for a second. “I’m sorry your first wasn’t with Allura.” he says all too quickly.

 

Lance is silent for a second, remembering what Rachel had said about deserving to be himself. He gazes into Keith’s eyes and brings one of his hands up, pressing kisses to his fingers. “ _Estás_ _loco_ ,” he murmurs. “I’m with you now, aren’t I? Yeah, I wish I could’ve spent a Valentine’s Day with her, but I...”

He hesitates. “I love you now, Keith. You’re my future, I can feel it.”

 

Keith’s eyes widen and he pulls Lance into him, falling back against the sheets and kissing him hard, coaxing moans out of him. Afterwards he starts to trail down Lance’s neck, pressing closer and closer to him as his hands automatically fly to undo the buttons of his shirt. He stops himself once Lance is shirtless, and his gaze trails back up to his face. “I love you too, Lance, so much.” he says, and kisses his mouth after every subsequent word. “God, I’ve loved you more than I’ve ever loved anyone.”

 

“How. Long’s. That?” Lance asks, grinning, stopped by every kiss.

 

Keith quickly swings his legs around Lance waist and straddles him. “Too fucking long.” he replies, lust heavy in his throat.

 

Lance hands clutch Keith’s waist as his head falls back against the wooden headboard. “ _Ahh_ , _te_ _amo_ _mucho_.”

 

Keith chuckles in response and climbs off Lance’s lap and off the bed. Lance peers at him, rubbing at the forming hickies on his neck. When Keith comes back over, he’s holding the bouquet he’d bought at the store.

 

“You got me flowers?”

 

“I couldn’t not get you flowers,” Keith explains, his tone growing uncomfortable as his face turns redder and redder. “Uh, the guy said they all mean love. I think—“

 

Lance is brushing hands across the petals in the bouquet, holding it like it’s a baby. “Red roses mean love, tulips mean love, and snapdragons mean desire.” he says without a hitch. “Keith Kogane, you desire me?”

 

“It shouldn’t take you a bouquet of flowers to figure that out.” Keith responds, and Lance brings their faces together, presses their foreheads together.

 

“ _Te_ _amo_ _mucho_ ,” he moans again.

 

Keith blushes. “What - What’s the bag on the bed for?”

 

“Oh!” Lance exclaims. “Yeah, that’s for you. If you had come back a little later, it probably would be in a little better condition, but you just had to come early.”

 

Keith smiles and brings the bag to him, sticking his hand inside and pulling out three chocolate boxes. “That’s a lot of chocolate, Lance,” he tells him, but laughter laces his voice.

 

“I gotta treat my guy somehow,” Lance offers, shrugging. “Besides, if you think I’m gonna let you eat that all yourself, you’re crazy.”

 

Keith shakes his head, next pulling out a stuffed bear with soft fur and a heart attached to its chest that reads, “Be mine!”

 

His head wheels around to Lance. “‘ _Be_ _mine_ ’?”

 

“Well, it worked, didn’t it?”

 

Keith’s grin catches. “Yeah, it did. But I was yours a long time ago, Lance.”

 

“And I’m yours,” Lance says softly, his gaze flicking down to his lap.

 

“You’re mine?” Keith breathes.

 

In response Lance brushes aside the hair covering the zipper on Keith’s Blade suit, slowly starting to unzip him, revealing his bodysuit underneath. Keith helps him, his breath gone, as he undresses Keith, pressing kisses to exposed skin whenever he can see it. Keith’s muscles relax under his lips and his skin is warm with a flush that makes Lance speed up so he can see more of the naked flesh. But before he can get the lower half done, Keith pulls him back in for a kiss, breathing heavily into his mouth, his tongue meeting Lance’s in a frantic demonstration of his love. Lance falls perfectly into Keith’s lap and so they remain this way for a good hour before they fall asleep in each other’s arms.


	14. October 23rd.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uhhhh anyway stan Carmen sandiego

Like when he was younger, Keith doesn’t make a big show of telling people about his birthday. Maybe it’s some part of his psyche that’s making him subconsciously afraid of revealing anything about himself, or maybe he just doesn’t want anything big. He’s always been more of a quiet guy who prefers nothing to everything. Lance is the exact opposite and he knows when Keith’s birthday is.

 

Keith’s away the week of the 23rd, with the Blades out on some distant planet. The last time he sees Lance before then is about a week beforehand.

 

“You ever think about how old we’re getting?” Lance asks him on one of those days, while Keith is sitting with him on the patchwork couch in the living room, his head on Lance’s shoulder.

 

“Lance, we’re in our twenties,” Keith responds.

 

“Yeah, I know, but like, I can barely communicate with my niece and nephew anymore. They have this different lingo and I feel so _uncool_.” Lance whines. His head slumps against the back of the couch, and then wheels around to face Keith. “Am I?”

 

Keith’s eyes narrow and his mouth twists into an amused grin. “Not to me,”

He leans in to kiss Lance’s cheek.

 

Lance blushes. “Look, if I’m uncool, then you’re _definitely_ uncool.”

 

Keith sits straight up, bristling. “ _What_?”

 

“I mean, come on, Keith. You’re like, emo.”

 

“I _used_  to be,” Keith corrects. “Is that all you got?”

 

He can see Lance hesitating, and he instantly knows he can’t think of anything else.

 

“Well, _I’m_ their uncle. So that automatically makes me cooler than you.”

 

Keith shrugs. “Whatever, Lance.”

He could tell him that because the kids have known him so long, his default coolness has faded, whereas Keith is a new figure with a motorcycle at that, so he’s a strong contender for coolness points. But he says nothing. Lance still has insecurities. This is more than just a silly thing. He’s genuinely worried he’s getting old.

In that moment it occurs to Keith that maybe he’s afraid of getting old because he wasn’t able to do it with Allura. Though, he probably wouldn’t have been able to anyway since they have two different life spans. Allura would surely have outlived him.

 

His hand, rough with calluses from his bike, reaches to pull Lance’s jaw toward him. “Look, I’m sure you’re the coolest uncle the kids have,” he tells him, kissing all over Lance’s face after each word.

 

“Easy for you to say,” Lance grumbles, and doesn’t meet his eyes though he’s blushing. “I mean, Marco has a friggin _pool_.”

 

Keith grins. “Lance, shut up. Seriously. You’re cool. You always were, and you always will be. So fucking what if you’re getting old? We all are. You think Hunk worries about this stuff?”

 

“No, but he _is_ a world class chef, Keith.”

 

Keith bites his lip. His social skills are rusty, so he’s prone to error once in a while, but this is one instance where he needed to be right.

 

But then he grins. “You’re Lance McClain. Former paladin of Voltron, amazing Sharpshooter, albeit annoying loverboy, and you’ve always got my back.” he says, watching how Lance starts to look at him differently. Keith leans in and kisses his lips this time. “If your niece and nephew don’t know that, I don’t think you’ve been giving yourself enough credit, Lance.”

 

Lance’s eyes are shiny. “I love you.” he says, breathless, slumping against his boyfriend so that his back is to Keith’s chest.

 

Keith leans back into the couch and begins to stroke Lance’s hair, the way he knows he likes it. “I know.”

 

After a few moments’ pause Lance rounds on him. “Did you just turn that into a Star Wars reference?”

 

“What the fuck is Star Wars?”

 

Lance swats his shoulder as he turns back around. “You big cheese.” he mutters, but his hand reaches to pull one of Keith’s onto his head. Grinning again softly, Keith continues to stroke his hair.

 

“Oh yeah,” Lance continues in a murmur. “Your birthday’s coming up, right?”

 

“Yeah,” Keith responds. Truthfully, he’d almost forgotten about his birthday. He’s still in battlefield mentality — there’s no time for birthdays. Nobody even keeps track of time other than amount of days that go by. “I guess.”

 

“What do you mean, you _guess_? It either is or isn’t.” Lance’s nose wrinkles.

 

“It is.”

He’s gone stiff without even meaning to.

 

“Alright. Cool.”

Lance’s tone is at best suspicious.

 

“No parties, please.” Keith mutters.

 

Lance lifts himself up on his elbows and turns to scrutinize him. “What makes you think I’m gonna throw you a party?”

 

Keith pulls a face.

 

“Besides, why do you hate parties anyway?”

 

“I don’t hate parties,” Keith says defensively. “I just don’t want one.”

His hands have stilled in Lance’s hair.

 

It occurs to him then that he hasn’t really told Lance much about his past, even the whole time they’ve been together. All Lance knows is that Krolia left him as a baby.

 

“I... didn’t have parties growing up?” he says, with difficulty. “Don’t feel sorry for me, it’s just the way my life happened. I’ve just never really known what they were.”

 

Lance’s face softens. “Oh. Well, why don’t we change that?”

 

Keith shrugs. His fingers brush against Lance’s stubble now. “I want to stick to what I’m used to. I think I like that better.”

 

Lance slumps back against him, facing outwardly again. “Ugh, you’re no fun. Crap, but I have to shave.”

 

His attempts to climb off the couch are stalled by Keith’s hand closing on his forearm. “You don’t have to right this _minute_ ,”

 

Lance pulls back against him. “Yes, I do. Come on, Keith.” he whines. “I’m gonna get all gross if I don’t.”

 

“I _like_ your stubble.”

 

“Well, my family doesn’t. My mamá is always telling me not to get one. Besides, I feel like I have a beard.”

 

With a short yank that has Lance yelping, Keith brings him back to sit on the armrest and gets up onto his knees, slinging his arms around to cross over Lance’s chest from behind. He smiles, tilting his head so his lips meet Lance’s neck.

 

He feels Lance’s hand shifting through his hair. Sinking further against his back he lazily kisses Lance’s back.

 

With a grunt, Lance slumps against him again. “Fine. Five more minutes.”

 

—

 

The day of the twenty-third, Keith’s with the Baku people, handing out supplies and food to the locals — whatever they can use. Even the mer-kingdom has been badly affected by the war, and they’ve been slowly rebuilding their civilization in the decade since the end of the universe-wide conflict.

 

In the morning Keith had received birthday messages from Shiro, Hunk, Pidge, Lance and Krolia, not to mention the countless emails and phone messages from his “fans”. He doesn’t really mind it, but he could do without the fan base. Contrary to him, Lance loves the attention. The thought makes him stop in his tracks and smile.

 

Not soon afterwards he’s elbowed hard in the side, and turning he notices it’s Ezor, floating by with the current. “Come on, birthday boy. Stop daydreaming about your boyfriend and help.”

 

Keith rubs his side and frowns. “I _am_ helping. I just got - distracted.”

 

“By what?” Zethrid adds as she whisks by and grabs Ezor’s hand to anchor herself. “Your boyfriend?”

 

Acxa comes by then, laying a supportive hand on Keith’s shoulder as she comes up beside him. “Hey, knock it off,” she tells the couple sternly. “You two are lucky you have each other out here.”

 

Keith crosses his arms, nodding. He and Acxa both have their significant others back on planet Earth, whereas Ezor and Zethrid are always together. “ _Thank_ you, Acxa.”

 

She pats his back. “You’re welcome, Keith.”

 

As Ezor and Zethrid move away, she stays by his side. “How is Lance?” she asks. “How did he feel about you spending your day of birth on a mission?”

 

“He was okay with it, I guess,” responds Keith. The current has stopped carrying them now and so they begin to swim through the waters.

 

“Why is it that humans emphasize one’s day of birth as so important?”

 

Keith shrugs. “Not sure.”

He remembers Krolia telling him about having to become adjusted to Earth traditions, and birthdays had been one of them. Of course, she’d never forgotten Keith’s birthday, but she’d never known it was celebrated each year after birth until Keith had told her.

“The Galra don’t, right?”

 

Acxa shakes her head, treading water. “No. I suppose they believe training for war is more important.”

She smiles at him then, which is rare for her, but nonetheless it’s a sad smile. “You’re lucky you know your day of birth.”

 

They fall into a content silence, one of the things Keith likes most about talking to Acxa. She’s like him — he doesn’t need to worry about saying anything. They can just be silent and nothing else.

 

Then again, he had just recently learned they’re cousins, so maybe there’s a reason they’re so alike.

 

—

 

He gets back to Earth nearly a week later and as usual, he can’t take being away from Lance any longer. It’s a peculiar ache, like nothing he’s ever felt before, and he thinks it’s weird that Earth used to be his least favourite place to be, but now it’s become home just because Lance is there.

 

He calls Lance in the ship they take to go back, not even a minute into takeoff.

 

“Lance?” he says, craving the sound of his voice, not caring that Ezor, Zethrid and Acxa are all staring at him with smug smiles on their faces.

 

“Keith?” Lance responds. “Hey!”

 

Keith grins at the enthusiasm in his voice. “How are things?”

 

“It’s only been a week since you left, babe,”

 

Keith’s heart jumps at the pet name. It isn’t often that Lance calls him terms of endearment, but when he does it never fails to make Keith’s heart do flips in his chest. “I missed you,” he says, softly, murmuring. The girls have turned away from him by now but he feels like they can feel the intimacy projecting from the conversation.

 

“Don’t get all sappy on me,” Lance laughs — and it’s that soft, happy laugh that makes Keith not able to believe he’s actually his. “I’ll see you before you know it. Or, you know, you’ll see me.”

 

Keith knows better than to disagree when he knows he can’t keep himself away from Lance’s farm. “I guess I’ll see you then.” he says, smiling.

 

“Alright, Samurai.”

 

When he hangs up and looks round at the girls, Ezor’s piercing giggles assault his ears. “You are such a sap for him! It’d be cute if you weren’t so disgustingly cheesy.”

 

Keith rolls his eyes. “Yeah, like you and Zethrid are any better.”

 

That shuts her up, and makes Acxa grin proudly at the comeback.

 

—

 

Keith arrives back at Lance’s farm at dusk, like usual. Of course, he’s not in the field, so Keith cautiously walks into the house, strips himself of his jacket and boots at the door.

 

He finds Lance’s room quickly, door slightly ajar, strips of pale light slanting across his face. So many things about him, even asleep, make Keith fall in love with him even more now. The way he sleeps — on his back, a recent change from his side, when he wanted to be spooned in those first few years after they’d gotten together. Now he sleeps like a starfish — still and relaxed, chest rising and falling like the tide so that when Keith has put his head to his chest, he falls asleep rapidly.

 

That hand resting on his chest, just over his heart — the heart that has owned Keith’s since they were teenagers. The sleep mask over his eyes. The other hand up over his head, underneath his pillow. Keith nearly falls into the room just gazing at him. He makes to go to the guest bedroom, not wanting to disturb him.

 

—

 

He wakes up to the sound of rustling, and then a hand pulling his ponytail holder out. His eyes open halfway.

 

“Mmm?” he hums questioningly.

 

Lance’s face meets his, as Keith had hoped it would. “Why didn’t you come and wake me up when you got here?” he asks, stroking Keith loose hair out of his face.

 

Keith raises his hand so his fingers brush against Lance’s wrist. “Didn’t want to disturb you,” he says sleepily, before bringing Lance’s hand further down so he can kiss his wrist. “Babe.” he adds with a smile, drunk on sleep.

 

Lance raises an eyebrow. “Only I can call you babe,” he tells Keith, but kneels atop the futon mattress Keith occupies to get closer to him, a hand stroking his brow. “Happy birthday, by the way, Mr. I-don’t-want-a-party.”

 

Keith’s smile grows. “Thanks,”

 

He pats the space beside him on the mattress, and Lance crawls down into a lying position without hesitation. He turns into his side, wraps his arms around Keith and inches so close that their bodies mould into each other. Then he presses a sweet kiss to Keith’s neck.

 

It’s easily one of the best birthday months Keith has ever had.


	15. Christmas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is long overdue... sorry, guys! Exam season is so rough

“It’s actually snowing,”

Lance is standing before the window that looks out over the yard outside the farmhouse. Feeble, barely visible snowflakes are weaving their way down to the grass, a rare sight for Cuba. But then again, the world’s been through trauma, considering the impact the war had on the Earth.

 

Keith grunts from the bed. The light from the window glares onto it, making him squint as he sits up. “Lance, could you shut the curtains, please?”

 

A grin flits onto Lance face. “C’mon, Samurai, it’s snowing. Where’s your Christmas spirit?”

He turns from the window to regard his bedraggled boyfriend, smothered in an ocean of sheets.

 

“I got plenty of Christmas spirit,” groans the lump in the bed. “But it’s midnight. You think you could just come back to bed?”

 

“Mm, okay, sleepyhead,”

Lance smiles, swaggering back to the bed.

 

Keith pushes out a prolonged groan. “Youuuuu didn’t close the curtains.”

 

Abruptly Lance stops, and with a flourish closes the curtains before climbing back into bed. “Happy?”

 

As Lance sinks lower inside the sheets, Keith nuzzles in closer to him, turning his face into Lance’s chest. “Nice and dark.” he murmurs. Lance leans down to kiss his bare shoulder, still smiling.

 

They quickly fall back asleep after that.

 

—

 

The next day Lance’s family is over, including in-laws — this means Acxa too.

 

“Do you know what Christmas is?” she asks Keith while the McClain siblings are all bustling about in the kitchen. They’re sitting in the living room, on the couch, their phones in their hands.

 

Keith peers round at her, lowering his phone. “Didn’t Veronica tell you?”

 

“Is it supposed to be as complicated as it sounds?” Acxa asks in return. “A deranged elderly human violates all the homes of Earth in a single night?”

 

Keith chuckles. “I know it’s crazy, but people believe it.”

 

“So it doesn’t really happen?”

 

“No, it’s just something they tell the children. A lot less lame than just getting kids presents, I guess.”

 

Acxa nods slowly. “I see. It’s extraordinary how all different species invent holidays and rituals collectively.”

 

“I guess,” Keith agrees lamely. Acxa’s mind is too profound for him to comprehend sometimes.

 

But then Veronica rushes in with a tray full of glasses of hot chocolate and brandishes it before them, a smile on her face that is identical to one of Lance’s. “Here, take some. It’s good, I promise. I made them.”

 

“What is it?” Acxa asks as she takes a sip from the glass she took.

 

“Poison,” replies Veronica, totally serious. And then her smile splits into a grin and they all laugh.

 

“Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised,” calls Lance’s voice from the kitchen. “You kinda have a track record with making shit food.”

 

“You say that like it doesn’t run in the family.” Veronica retorts, shaking her head as she plops down on the couch beside Acxa — very close to Acxa, Keith observes. He knows they’re an item but he’s never seen them interact as a couple. This — the fact that Veronica is all but sitting in Acxa’s lap, just confirms it. Acxa isn’t slick at all — she’s a lot like him, a stuttering mess when it comes to her significant other. He also notices the fact that Acxa’s hand is now rather possessively holding Veronica’s waist.

 

So if he wasn’t sure of their relationship before, he certainly is now.

 

The rest of Lance’s family floods into the room then. Lance’s mother rushes over to Keith and squeezes him into a hug, letting him go only to do the same with Acxa. “Oh, it’s so nice to see you two again!” she coos.

 

Keith smiles nervously. The loving nature of Lance’s family still makes him slightly uncomfortable, but only because he’s gone so long in life without having anything near it. “It’s nice to be back here, Mrs McClain,” he responds as she pulls back to look at him.

 

“Aww,” Mamá McClain goes on. Her hands come up to cup Keith’s cheeks, and she tilts her head a little. “I hope I will be lucky enough to one day call you my son-in-law, hm?”

 

Keith feels his cheeks burn — Lance squeaks indignantly from beside him, and everyone else laughs.

 

“Uh- uhm.” Keith stutters.

 

“ _Mamá_!” Lance complains. “ _Dios — ¡_ _basta!_ ”

 

The Spanish only makes Keith blush darker as he regards Lance. “I do love Lance,” he says simply and briefly.

 

The awwws that reverberate around the room sound like a stadium of applause to Keith. He shrinks in on himself a little, glad for Lance’s mother’s subsequent turning her focus onto Acxa.

 

“And what about you, my dear? You’re looking to marry my sweet daughter?”

 

He doesn’t have to look to know Acxa’s got that flaming blue blush painting her cheeks again.

 

—

 

Keith’s by himself in the kitchen, a solo cup of beer in his hand, when he hears footsteps behind him. He doesn’t move - his back tense as he props himself over the sink.

 

But then there’s a soft pressure on his waist - someone’s hands are pressed against the skin, stuck underneath the fabric of his shirt. Not literally hot, but somehow scalding on his bare skin. In a way that makes him want to arch his back and close his eyes in bliss. He holds back, eyes on his cup.

 

“Hey, _mi_ _alma.._. ¿ _cómo_ _estás_ , hmm?”

 

Keith shivers. “ _Alma_? Don’t think I’ve heard that one.”

 

Lance hands wind around to clutch his waist around the back. His chin tucks itself in against Keith’s neck and he hums. “It means, _my_ _soul_.”

 

Keith almost smiles. “Where’d you get that? Backpickuplines.com?”

 

“Actually I swiped it off my brother talkin to his wife. I’d kinda forgotten it was a thing people can call each other.”

 

Lance leans in further now, kisses Keith’s neck. Keith tilts his head back to give him easier access, almost gets carried away when it progresses from kissing to sucking and then biting, because Lance knows that takes Keith’s breath away.

 

It’s only when Keith inhales sharply and swallows down his moan of pleasure to push Lance a little bit away. “Mm, your family is in the house,” he notes in a murmur.

 

“You’re no fun, know that?”

Lance’s hands snake off Keith’s waist though, and he turns Keith to face him, letting Keith wind his arms around his shoulders and smirk at him. “Hey.” he says, softly.

 

Keith leans forward, captures his lips in a lingering kiss. “Hey, _guapo_.”

 

Lance’s eyebrow raises. “Oh, yeah? Using my own line against me, huh?”

 

“You bet your sweet ass, I am. Is it working?”

 

“You kidding? Definitely.”

 

They chuckle together for a bit, before Lance leans closer to Keith and kisses his nose. “Merry Christmas, Keith.”

 

And Keith doesn’t know what Christmas tomorrow will be like, but with Lance, it could be everything.

 

“Merry Christmas, Lance.”

 

 


	16. Propose.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So this is the last chapter :) thx to everyone for going on this journey with me... I only say this because I think this will be one of my last vld fics. I made the majority of my fics for this fandom and I can’t imagine not making more. I think after this one there will be two more and then who knows? Maybe I’ll be in a different fandom in 3 mos. anyway thx to you all I feel like this is almost the end of an era :)

They’re lying on the couch again. Lance’s hand lies atop the crown of Keith’s head, fingers sweeping lightly across the strands. The television’s on, projected against the wall, orange glow cast over the faces of men selling something on the screen, but Keith’s eyes are closed and there’s a faint grin upon his lips.

 

It’s late at night — the farm’s daily responsibilities have all been taken care of.

During these times while Keith is on downtime from space, it’s been easy to have taken the fall into a softer part of their relationship. Thinking about it, Keith would never say anything was official about the way they’d become _them_ , but it’s the weightiest thing Keith’s ever been involved in, in the best way possible. Lance is that piece that ties him to Earth when he’s in Space, and a bit of home when he’s on Earth. It’s not like Lance is his whole life, but he does own his whole heart, and has for awhile.

 

His impulsiveness suddenly rushes back to him all at once, and he shoves himself closer to Lance on the couch, opening his eyes and peering up at the ceiling.

 

“Hey,” he says softly.

 

“Mm?” Lance hums, hand burrowing deeper into Keith’s hair. It’s loose and clings to his shoulders, almost flooding past them.

 

Keith’s hands clasp his arms as he turns his nose into Lance’s side, breathes in his scent.

His head is vaguely fuzzy. “I gotta go back to Space soon,” he says. His voice catches — he’s holding himself back.

 

“Yeah,” Lance agrees. “Couple days, right?”

 

Keith nods.

Best to get this over with.

 

“What if... you came with me?”

 

“What?”

There’s a hint of amusement in his response, as if this is some completely impossible thing. “What do you mean?”

 

“Exactly what I said.”

Now Keith turns to face him, props himself up so he’s level with Lance. The man on the television fades from his hearing as he stares at his lover. There’s no going back now.

 

“Keith, I can’t,” Lance says, shrugging helplessly. He’s hesitating. He wants to say yes. It’s written all over his gaze.

 

Keith’s hand finds Lance’s. Their fingers link automatically in their laps. “You can’t, or you won’t let yourself? Lance, I’m gonna be frank with you — I love you. And I know this farm doesn’t make you happy.”

 

Lance’s nose wrinkles in disagreement. “What are you talking about? Of course it does! I get to be with my family and Kaltenecker, surrounded by Allura’s flowers, where I belong. I’m _happy_ , Keith.”

 

“What happened to adventurous Lance? The Lance who competed with me in just about anything? The Lance who loved being a paladin of the red lion?”

Keith lets his free hand rub over Lance’s cheek, brush against the stubble around his jaw and then higher up to his Altean markings, which glow faintly as Lance closes his eyes for a few seconds.

 

“He’s still here,” he responds with a sad smile. “I was a teenager back then, Keith. You’re not the same broody emo teen you were back then.”

 

“No, but that’s not my point. It’s great that you’re continuing her legacy and all, and you can still do that. But the Lance I knew wouldn’t have just wanted to stay on a farm his whole life. You know that. You can’t be a Sharpshooter milking cows.”

 

Lance frowns. Keith’s right, of course, but it’s troubling to think about. “Screw off, man.” he murmurs, looking down and unlatching their fingers.

 

But Keith doesn’t move away - he places both hands back on Lance’s face and gazes at him. “You shouldn’t feel guilty for anything that happened. It wasn’t your fault. You don’t have to suffer, Lance.”

 

“What makes you think I’m suffering here?”

Lance argues indignantly. “Everyone’s always telling me I can move on and I’m sick of it! I feel like I’ve already moved on in so many things — why do I have to completely let go? I’m still not ready to forget her.”

 

“I’m not saying you have to forget her. We’ll always remember her. But you’re miserable here, Lance. Look, Shiro told me something awhile ago, something interesting. He said he’ll always carry Adam in his heart, you know? But he can’t live his life sad about what he might’ve missed out on with him.”

He falters here, losing his direction.

 

Lance stares at him. “Yeah, easier said than done.”

 

“No,” Keith continues, “I know. You don’t think I know what it’s like to love someone and ache for them but not be able to have them? I do know what that’s like, but I had to get on with things because you have to heal to be happy.”

 

Lance considers this, and thinks, feels the light touch of Keith’s hands on his face, brings his own hands up to hold Keith’s forearms in place as he does. The farm is great, but if he thinks about what a teenaged him wanted and aspired to be — it’s really not for him. This revelation only causes him stress.

 

“What do I do with the farm then?” he asks in a murmur, eyes on his lap.

 

One of Keith’s hands swoops down to brush his jaw, tilt his head up slightly so he can smile at him. “You don’t have to do anything with it,” he says. “Just keep it here. I’m not saying come with me all year round. Just sporadically. You know, every coupla months.”

 

“The juniberries?” Lance’s voice catches. “Who’s going to take care of them? It’s a daily maintenance thing, Keith, I —“

 

If Lance keeps anything from the farm, if anything, he has to have the juniberries. They’re one of the last remaining pieces of Allura that he has.

 

“We’ll figure it out.” Keith says. “Look. This doesn’t have to be a permanent thing. It’s whatever you want, Lance. But this farm thing can’t be permanent either. Allura would want you to live your life. Just — just come on one mission with me. See how you like it.”

 

Lance nods easily. “We’ll see then.”

 

—

 

Keith and Lance have been together a number of years. Still, seeing Lance’s body still sends shivers down Keith’s spine. The BOM suit is... revealing... to say the least, and boy, does Lance ever look good in it. Keith’s jaw comically drops when he sees the way the fabric adapts to Lance’s every curve and long legs.

 

“Take a picture, doofus, it’ll last longer,” Lance jokes the first time Keith sees him in the suit, which causes a heavy blush to flood Keith’s face as he turns away. But then Lance comes around and smacks his ass, so he must approve of the way the fabric adheres to one’s shape too.

 

The mission is to a planet Keith has visited before, but which is now in need of more relief in the form of portable shelters. The shelters come in small cylindrical tubes which the Blades are keeping several of stored in their shoulder bags as they fly to the planet. In the ship over, Ezor and Zethrid lean up against each other, hands linked, while Acxa sits to herself and checks the mission logs and Keith and Lance are suspiciously quiet.

 

The mission flies by, and, as expected, Lance has as good a time as he used to on missions with Voltron. It’s liberating, Keith can tell. The grin that settles on Lance’s face during the day, after quota is met, matches his smiles from his teenage years, and Keith has to resist kissing it at all times.

 

As they’re flying back home, Keith peers at Lance and gives him an experimental grin.

“So?”

 

Lance is leaning back against the walls of the ship, but tilts his head up just slightly so his eyes graze Keith’s face. There’s a bit of a smirk on his face. “So what?”

 

“You know what I mean, Lance.”

 

“I - I don’t know,” Lance returns. His arms wrap around himself. “It was fun, I guess. And I really want to do it again.”

His smirk fades into a grimace, and his eyes trail away from Keith’s. “But. What am I gonna do with the farm, Keith?”

 

Keith’s eyebrows cast downwards as he reaches over, covering one of Lance’s hands with his own, draws Lance’s gaze over again. “Like I said, this doesn’t have to be permanent. It can be temporary. Just every couple of months. And only if you want to. The point is, you don’t have to stay on the farm all the time.”

 

A smile reaches Lance’s face. “I did feel like a paladin again, helping people.” he admits.

 

“Veronica tells me you miss it,” Acxa says suddenly across the way. Her gaze is wise.

 

“I do,” Lance agrees, ducking his head.

 

“So are you gonna take me up on my offer, Sharpshooter?” Keith asks gently.

 

—

 

 _Six_ _months_ _later_.

 

“Hey, Keith, heads up!”

 

Keith turns quickly, catching the cylinder that’s being lobbed toward him, and grins. Lance bounds over and captures him in a side-embrace as he kisses his cheek. “Hey, babe.”

 

Keith laughs. “You’re acting like you haven’t been here for two hours.”

 

Lance lets him go and reaches into his shoulder bag to pull out another cylinder of food. “You don’t like me kissing you then?” he asks with a slight incline of one eyebrow.

 

“I never said that,” Keith answers coyly. He walks over and pulls Lance’s face into his, kissing the breath out of him.

 

“Ewwwww!” cries a high-pitched voice as they come apart.

 

Both of them whip around to see an inhabitant of the planet watching them, this one shorter and with her nose scrunched up in disgust. Keith’s cheeks flame but Lance chuckles.

 

“Sorry, that’s yucky, huh?” he says sympathetically.

 

The little alien nods, features relaxing. “Are you the blue paladin?” it asks, in a hushed voice.

 

The excited grin that spreads across Lance’s face at that makes Keith’s heart melt. “Yeah! Well, I was.”

 

“What happened?”

 

Lance pauses, but before he can answer, a slightly taller alien bustles over, her back hunched, and seizes the little one by the hand. “Oh, I’m terribly sorry, great heros,” she tells Keith and Lance. “This little one got away from us.”

 

Keith frowns. “Are you her grandmother?”

 

“Goodness, no.” the elder replies. “I run an orphanage on this planet. Today we’ve brought the children out to observe the relief the Blade of Marmora is providing is.” She tugs a little on the young one’s hand. “This one is always rushing away from the group. I apologize if she’s been bothering you both.”

 

Lance shakes his head. “No, not at all. Right, Keith?”

 

Keith nods. “Right.”

Suddenly he leans down to the young alien’s level, overtaken by some paternal instinct. “What are you called?”

 

“Sara,” the young one replies shyly.

 

“Well, enjoy the rest of your day, Sara.” Lance says. His hand clasps Keith’s shoulder.

 

“Will you come back?” Sara asks. Her wide eyes brim with hope. They’re huge and almost pop out of her face, like many others of her kind.

 

“I’m sure we will,” Keith replies with a smile that he finds is decidedly sad. “Someday.”

 

“Yeah, someday.” Lance repeats. “In the meantime, stay out of trouble, alright? This lady knows what’s best for you and your friends.”

 

Sara nods obediently, which makes Keith’s heart melt for the second time that day, but this is an entirely different melt.

He and Lance watch as Sara is led away by the elderly woman, and Keith’s arms cross his chest.

 

“God, I hate that. It’s exactly how they treated me when I was in the system.” he mutters angrily, once she’s gone.

 

Lance pauses before he moves his hand from Keith’s shoulder to his back. “The orphanage?” he asks softly.

 

“Yeah,” Keith says with some difficulty. “The orphanage. AKA where kids are deposited like fucking trash.”

 

“Hey,” Lance says, his gaze soft. “Why don’t you start a school or something? Like a daycare for these kids, that could replace the orphanage.”

 

Keith stares at him, his eyes lighting up instantly. “That... actually is a good idea.”

 

“What do you mean, _actually_? It’s a great idea!” Lance crosses his arms proudly.

 

And thus, Keith’s own version of foster homes spread throughout the galaxy.

 

Over the next several years, Keith oversees the construction and implementation of hundreds of them across the planets aided by the Blade, and sets up trusted allies to teach in them and look after the children, ensuring that no child is neglected or shunned.

 

And one day, in the early years of the program, he and Lance come back to the planet that started it all, eagerly adopt Sara and bring her back to Earth.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Oof so I’m emotionally drained but have this. I probably will add on a fic to this later.


End file.
